


Inquisition of Orion

by Noir995



Series: Inquisition Series [1]
Category: Original Work
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-30
Updated: 2017-12-01
Packaged: 2018-12-21 22:14:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 26
Words: 72,083
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11953737
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Noir995/pseuds/Noir995
Summary: For millennia, the Orion Defence Corp. has stood against the horrors of the Darkspace and they are recruiting young and abled personnel from across the known galaxy into their prestigious academy for future Defenders. This is the lie that Azrael keep telling people when he applied for the Tenrou Academy for Future Defenders, for the truth is something much darker than what is being led on.Whilst learning how to properly use his meta abilities along with the rest of his peers at the academy; Azrael will be challenged both mentally and physically for is anyone truly ready to defend the known galaxy and must hand in their assignments the following day?





	1. Welcome to Tenrou Academy

**Author's Note:**

> All of this is purely what I've thought up and claim no copyright to anything that has been used or named in it.

July 20th, 2245

It was calm and serene throughout the night; with a vibe of happiness about the town that was felt by those who were still wondering the streets at this hour. While some were simply heading home after a long working day, others were taking in the nightlife that was to offer.  
That vibe was felt throughout the city; all except for the Business District. For there was trouble afoot as the silence of the Business District was broken by the sounds of an eerie character stalking the rooftops of the quite part of town, his goal was the Valéryan National Bank. As silent as a mouse, the mysterious character entered the National Bank and made his way through the Bank without setting any alarms off - almost as if he was a ghost. With his target in sight, the figure almost allowed the thought of victory to enter his mind however, it was quickly dashed out when he came to the realisation that his prize was nowhere to be found.  
Suddenly the room was filled with light and the figure was revealed to be the notorious thief Lucius Nightshade. From the shadows stepped out a man clad in samurai armour; strapped to both sides of his waist sat two katanas and a larger sealed one on his back. "Sorry but the bank isn’t accepting any withdrawals right now, maybe try when they’re actually open next time?" spoke the samurai as he faced the assailant with a sharp blue gaze as he drew one of his katanas "do you really think we wouldn’t figure out your pattern? You really are getting sloppy Nightshade."  
"I must admit; I am flattered that the Defence Crops. is sending out such a well-seasoned defender such as Ronin of the Dovahguard after me, it must mean that either the rumours are true and the Corps. is stretched too thin or that they recognise me as a potential threat" mocked Nightshade as he circled the room facing Ronin, slowly eying him up and down trying to find a tell.  
"Whatever problems the Corps. have are our business and not for scum like you, now are you going to be coming quietly?" asked Ronin as he stopped circling Nightshade and prepared to strike the villain. "I’m afraid we have other plans so if you’ll excuse us."  
Suddenly several other figures smashed through the windows and encircled Ronin, armed with various melee weapons. With a calm collective; Ronin evaluated the figures surrounding him while he drew his second katana and waited for one of the figures to make the first move.  
One of the figures suddenly charged forward and tried to take Ronin’s head off with his weapon but, despite the heavy armour, Ronin was faster and drove his katana through the assailant; only for the figure to burst into a vail of black smoke.  
"Damn shades, and here I thought you were a solo act Nightshade" said Ronin as the smoke faded around him and he return to his stance, waiting for the next shade to attack. One by one, the shades took their turn in attacking Ronin with little success, each of them crating a vail of black smoke until Ronin could no longer see where they were coming from.  
"I would love to stay and watch but alas I must be on my way" said Nightshade from one of the windows that a Shade had used to enter the bank and with that he jumped out of the window and began running along the rooftops that he had used to reach the bank in the first place. There was a clattering sound behind him on the rooftops, without turning around Nightshade knew that Ronin was hot in pursuit.  
As Nightshade jumped towards the next roof, he turned to face Ronin as he lifted his arms to reveals two wrist mounted guns, aimed them at Ronin and begun firing. In the blink of an eye; Ronin had halted his pursuit, drawn his katanas and begun deflecting the oncoming projectiles. Finding his footing once again, Ronin began charging at Nightshade once again, still deflecting the projectiles; he chased Nightshade to the outskirts of the city until the came to the very edge of the city.  
"End of the line Nightshade, you’ve nowhere left no run. So much for your reputation of evading the Corps." Ronin took up the same stance as he did at the bank; with katana pointing straight at Nightshade who slowly turned to face Ronin. Ronin was surprised to find Nightshade to be grinning, almost as if this was all going per a scheme of some sort.  
Suddenly the quite area was interrupted by the loud rushing of a drop jet that hovered just behind Nightshade and was flooding the dimly light area with blinding flood lights. No longer able to see Nightshade due to the brightness of the lights; Ronin was forced to shield his eyes, only slightly making out Nightshade’s figure as he boarded the aircraft. ‘Maybe you’ll have less rotten luck next time. Till the next time’ Nightshade shouted over the roar of the engines and just as quickly had it arrived; the jet was off heading far away from the edge of the floating city.  


July 24th, 2245

"Soon we shall be arriving at Grand Avenue Station where this transport line will terminate, we hope you have enjoyed you travel with trans-lightspeed travels and hope you come again." Spoke the voice on the announcement system as the train came into a giant station filled with various species waiting for trains to either get to work, home or for their loved ones that were visiting from other districts on the planet.  
The planet Tenrou was home to thousands of different species; each with their own districted area that was theirs to govern and at the centre of it all was Orion City: home to the Galactic Council and the site of the Orion Defence Corps. and their prestigious academy where young men and women went to train and learn to become future defenders of Tenrou.  
As the train came to a halt and the door were slide open, a young boy got off first and stared up at the sky above through the glass ceiling of the station; where he saw a beautiful blue-sky populated with Tenrou’s various moons and ring, a truly breath-taking sight but that wasn’t what the boy was here for. He pulled his grey hood over his dark blue hair and made his way out of the station and into busy lunchtime rush.  
Pulling his rucksack higher on his shoulder, the boy started heading down south from the station without looking too much into what or who was in front of him and walked straight into what felt like a wall of brick.  
"By the moons, you must forgive me for I am not accustomed to this chaos" spoke the wall, the boy looked up to what was short for a giant standing over him with green skin and a pair of shocking red eyes.  
"I am named Ta’ Mar of the Martian Colonies to the North, what is your name?" asked the big green man that had identified himself as Ta’ Mar, offering the boy one of his massive hands. The boy took the offer without a word and began dusting himself off while cursing himself for being so damn clumsy.  
"You are a strange human are you not?" said Ta’ Mar with a slight grin that revealed his sharp lizard teeth. Started by Ta’ Mar for a second time, the boy started rubbing the back of his head in an apologetic manner.  
"Sorry, my big brother always scolded me for being a scatterbrain, my name is Azrael and I’m here to join the Academy." At the mention of the academy, a light appeared in Ta’ Mar’s eyes that slightly unnerved Azrael slightly "You are in luck friend Azrael for I too am here to join the academy! What say we travel there together?" "Sure" replied Azrael.  
The two of them started making their way father into the city to find the academy, asking locals and anyone else that looked as if they knew where it was. Eventually they found the entrance to the academy; it almost looked like a public garden with the stone walkway and fountain just before the academy’s entrance. Smaller building surrounded the much larger compound that was the main building; presumably dorms for the students who were staying on campus.  
As they entered in through the front door to the reception, they were met a very large and pristine looking area with two desks standing at either side of the entrance door and some security measures. They approached one of the desks to enquire about where the enrolment was when a hologram of a woman appeared in front of them.  
"Welcome to the Tenrou Academy, I am the interface known as Jocasta and will answer any questions you may have on this institute" stated the holographic woman that had identified herself as Jocasta.  
"We’re here for the enrolment procedure, he’s my letter here" said Azrael as he reached into his rucksack and pulled out a slip of paper and presented it to Jocasta who quickly scanned the letter. Ta’ Mar done the same once Jocasta had finished with Azrael’s.  
"The both of you are just in time, the initiation test is scheduled to begin in 1 hour in the main arena" informed Jocasta as she updated the registry to grant them access through the barrier. The area behind the barrier was full of several other applicants all standing around the main staircase, waiting for their guide to appear and take them to where the initiation would be taking place.  
"Looks to me that everyone is here" said a man as he descended the main staircase, stopping just shy of the bottom so he could see all the assembled people.  
"My name is Ronin and I shall be your examiner for this initiation process. I'm sure youall have a ton of questions but please hold them until we have arrived at the main arena" informed Ronin as he finished descending the stairs and instructed them to follow him through a large set of doors just left of the stairs. Azrael was looking through the floor to ceiling windows that ran either side of the corridor Ronin was leading them down. On either side, he could see several students enjoying the beautiful day eating their lunches in the garden or sparring in one of the outdoor sparring arenas, making sure that his hood was still up; Azrael kept pace with the others until they entered a dome shaped building. It had several stands surrounding the open concrete arena that gave way to a large hole that took up roughly the entire arena floor.  
"Welcome to Orion Stadium" announced Ronin "For those that watch the Defenders Tournament, should be familiar with this stadium already" Ronin revealed to be holding a tablet which he started pushing. Suddenly the area started to make noise as it was elevated slightly to become level with the rest of the stadium. "Alright then, this test is pretty straight forward" began Ronin as he pressed something on the tablet. Three summoning circles then appeared at the far end of the arena, from these circles came three knights each in identical armour and weapons; a sword and shield.  
"I’m going to call out each of you one at a time and you are going to take on these three Jade Knights." As if they were one being; the knights rose their shields in a defensive position while lifting their swords into a lunching position, right foots forward ready to charge. "You’ll have 10 minutes to either defeat or disarm the three knights, we’ll be evaluating you on your control on your abilities as well as you time effectiveness. Now before we begin, the principle has a few things he’d like to say."  
Suddenly there was a shimmering light as the principle suddenly appeared next to Ronin. The principle himself was quite tall in comparison to Ronin which combined with his sharp, grey eyes gave him a rather intimidating and authoritative appearance. Despite the glaring intimidation of his eyes, the most shocking feature of him was the golden horns that he was sprouting at the back of his head. A simple way to deduct how old a Dragónian is to see how long their horns are and this guy’s horns were quite long, showing that he was quite old as well.  
"Krosis Ronin for interrupting your introduction speech to these fine recruits to whom I hope shall be fine additions to our ranks here at Tenrou Academy. As Ronin stated I am the Academy’s principle, my name is Paarthurnax" introduced the principle, now known as Paarthurnax. "I know most of you are raring to get started with your induction so I will keep this welcoming brief and hope that you are ready to take the first steps in ensuring this lasting peace for another millennium. Now I leave you all in a capable care of Ronin here and know that I’ll be watching you all with interest." Out of nowhere, wings suddenly sprouted behind Paarthurnax as he took to the sky and hovered away from the area and into the surrounding to take his seat.  
"Now that the introductions are out of the way there is only one this left to say. Welcome to Tenrou Academy, hope you survive the experience."


	2. Test of Knights

Azrael watched as one by one; people were called out in a random order to impress Ronin and the principle who was somewhere in the stands watching them with interest. This gave Azrael an anxious feeling that lay in the pit of his gut like a rock as he watched and waited for his name to be called. Ronin watched these recruits; some of them showed a clear understanding of their meta abilities and a trained fighting style with them, while a few showed they had never been in a fight before and/or had poor understanding of their meta abilities, much like Ronin when he started as he recalled his trail days.  
"Alright; next initiate is Aryanna if you would please step up to the fighting arena" called Ronin as a guy covered in yellow and black fur with lighting antennas coming out of the top of his head stepped down from the arena and the Knights once again reformed themselves. Azrael had figured out that these “Knights” were souls inhabiting suits of armour as he watched a young woman take to the arena. The Knights took up the same stance again as Ronin called for the test to begin, but unlike most of the initiates who charged at the Knights; this woman stayed perfectly still, as if she was goading the Knights to attack.  
Eventually the Knight of the right broke its stance and rushed her who, instead of moving, calmly reached for her strange belt. The Knight leapt into the air; the sword poised above its head ready to cut the woman clean in half, only for his attack to be blocked by what appeared to be a giant floating rune in the shape of a rose that then burst into seemingly millions of petals.  
Suddenly, the woman named Aryanna snapped her eyes open and drew her belt which seemed to be almost sentient in movement as it wrapped round her upper arms and hung limply at her hands, she struck with deadly accuracy at the Knight’s helmet, knocking them back from her as she leapt into the air, muttering something under her breath that most didn’t hear. Azrael was one of the few people who did hear what she was muttering and realised that it was a Titan Enchantment which meant only one thing; this woman was a Gallifreyan like him. This realisation added to the rock of anxiety in the pit of his gut as he kept a close eye on this Aryanna, wondering if he knew her at all. When Aryanna was finished her Titan Enchantment, several rose petals started detaching from her whip and were currently swirling around her.  
"Rosetta Barrage!" shouted Aryanna as she flung her open hands towards the three knights and the petals all rushed at them, knocking two of the knights over the edge of the arena while one of them stood its ground with shield blocking the brunt of the assault but slowly pushing it back. As Aryanna landed back on the area, she pulled her left arm where some of the petals began creating a ball of red energy in her hand.  
"Seal of Serenity: Rosetta Burst" said Aryanna as she lurched the arm with the energy orb forward, another rose rune appeared in front of her as the orb released all the energy into a red beam, blowing a hole straight through the Knight’s shield and its torso. Like all the other times they were defeated, the knight burst into green flames and the summoning circle appeared underneath it as it returned to where it came from. Finished with her thorn like whip; Aryanna released her grip on it as it returned to being her belt, the titan seemed to have left it and returned to the Titan Plane for now.  
"Very well-done Aryanna, that seems to be the fastest time we had today so far" Praised Ronin. "Alright, next we have Ta’ Mar if you would like to take to the arena." As Aryanna stepped down from the arena, she scouted out the remaining initiates still to take the test, though most didn’t take her interest there was the one wearing a grey hood that seemed to be staring at her; almost as if her knew her. Azrael snapped out of another one of his daydreams to realise that he had been staring at Aryanna, he offered her a wide grin and a thumb up for her skirmish with the knights before turning his attention back to the initiation test.  
Ta’ Mar’s fight with the Knights was almost as short as Aryanna’s; he displayed superior swordsmanship and his timing with his cryomancy was spot on to keep the knights off-balance. After Ta’ Mar was someone who appeared to be a cyborg; Blitz was his name and he almost managed to take the first place from Aryanna but was too slow with the charging of his weapons. After Blitz was a man named Johnson who used an advanced type of armour that the Spartax armada used, he managed to defeat the Knights with little effort though it did come across that he may not know how to use his suit yet. One by one; the initiates were called to the area by Ronin until the ones remaining were Azrael, a small girl and a few nervous bunch who seemed to be second guessing their enrolment.  
"Next up is Amir, if you would please take to the arena" informed Ronin as another initiate left the arena sulking for failing the test. Amir turned out to be the small girl that was spaced out next to Azrael, she took to the arena and waited for the Knights to attack.  
"I call upon the goddess of the moon, give me strength in my time of need" prayed Amir, as she was enveloped in a silver goo-like substance the took the form of a silver knight with matching sword and shield, also making her the same height as the knights. The bell rung, indicating the start of the test and both sides lunged at on another, sparks flying from the clashing of swords and shields; one of the knights got past Amir’s defence and was about to thrust its sword straight through her when the goo suddenly created a hole for the sword to pass through before quickly closing with the sword still through the hole; trapping the knight.  
With deadly precision, Amir thrust the sword into the trapped knight, “killing” it before the goo released it and used the knight as a projectile against the remaining two. With them distracted by the sudden burst of flames from the “dead” knight; Amir quickly beheaded them both, ending the test almost was quickly as Ta’ Mar who was currently in Third after Aryanna and Blitz.  
"May the goddess of the moon guild you on your journey" muttered Amir as the armour suddenly dispersed from around her and she began to skip merrily off the arena, sending a shiver down Azrael’s back and a mental note to not piss her off.  


The canteen was the area that all the passed initiates were lead to by Jocasta, it looked more like a bar than an actual school canteen with all the high tables and the bar table to the far end of the room with the food isle running along the right side, staked full of various types of food that had some of the initiates literally creating puddles of drool, much to Aryanna’s disgust. The TVs that hung above the floor to ceiling windows looking out to the garden were currently showing the arena they had just come from so they could watch the remaining initiates in their test.  
"This seat taken?" Aryanna asked Ta’ Mar who spun round to face her with the bottom half of a fish still in his mouth. He swallowed the remainder and grinned. "Not at all my fair lady; please I could use the company while friend Azrael is still awaiting his trial" said Ta’ Mar as Aryanna slid her way onto the stool "I was most impressed with you fighting technique friend; are one of the Gallifreyans?" asked Ta’ Mar as he continued to munch on his fish.  
"That obvious, is it?" sighed Aryanna "Yeah I’m a Gallifreyian though it is pretty obvious that you are of the Martian colony is Azrael from there too?" "No, I’m afraid friend Azrael is not, we met outside the station where he collided with my person and accompanied me to the academy." informed Ta’ Mar who returned his attention to the monitor that showed the arena while finishing his fish.  
While they watched the monitor; Ta’ Mar and Aryanna were joined by Blitz and Johnson as they watched Amir slaughter the Knights, as they watched her skip merrily off the arena they all had the same feeling as Azrael in which they would not piss her off.

"Alright then, next initiate to the arena is Azrael" called Ronin. Finally, Azrael thought, it was his turn to go against the Knights. The anxious feeling at the bottom of his gut had slowly dissipated as time went on but there was still some residue remaining that made itself known as he stepped into the arena.  
"Could you please remove your hood so that we can confirm that you are Azrael please" informed Ronin, this made Azrael stop in his tracks; becoming rather self-conscious of his predicament but he wasn’t going to let this stop him now. Removing his grey hood as well as shrugging off the long black cloak he was wearing, Azrael revealed to Ronin and the other initiates watching in the canteen his pointed ears sticking out his messy blue hair and black horns protruding out the back of his head; just like the Principle’s. Another unusual feature about him was the fact that his left arm was entirely covered in bandages.  
"Thank you for confirming your identity, you may proceed to the arena" informed Ronin; happy to continue, Azrael finished making his way onto the arena where the three knights were waiting for him. The bell rung once again indicating the start of the trial and the middle knight sprang into action, leaping up and about to cleave Azrael in half but instead of leaping out of the way like what everyone else done; Azrael stood firm.  
Ronin thought he’d have to step in to save Azrael when he heard the clang of the sword connecting with something metallic. At the last moment, Azrael had lifted his bandaged arm to grab the knight’s sword, the force of the blow shredded the bandages, revealing a robotic prosthetic underneath. Azrael applied a little more pressure to the sword, shattering it, before raising his open hand and pressed it against the knight. The effect was instantaneous as the knight was suddenly flying towards the other end of the arena where it crashed into the opposite wall before bursting into green flames.  
"Now for the rest, think you can handle them?" muttered Azrael, Ronin thought he was talking to himself when he started putting his hands together in a fist with the index, pinkie and thumb straight and pressed together. A strange blue and black energy started to come from Azrael as the wind started picking up around him, a symbol appeared underneath his feet in the shape of a dragon.  
"Seal their fates with fire and destruction" muttered Azrael before breaking the pose and lifting his right arm straight up with his hand stretched out "Arise to conquer; Imperious!" shouted Azrael as the strange energy suddenly surged up and created what looked like a portal.  
Through the portal came a giant blue dragon-like humanoid with black and red wings and was covered in black armour. Towering over at 8-feet and with his red reptilian eyes scanning the arena made even Ronin slightly unsettled. Both Knights registered the scale of this creature and took up defensive stances waiting for an opening.  
"Say hello Imperious" said Azrael to the giant creature now identified as Imperious who in returned just growled "Oh come on! I left you these two so at least drop the attitude will yah" pouted Azrael while pointing at the remaining Knights. Imperious then seemed to grin which made Ronin even more uneasy before he suddenly burst forwards towards the Knights, punching one of their shields which staggered the Knight before Imperious impaled him on his claws and he burst into green flames. Turning to the other knight, Imperious let loose a blue flame from his mouth that incinerated the last knight.  
With the three Knights annihilated; the bell rung again to indicate the end of the test, Imperious dissipated into the blue energy that had summoned him and Azrael made his way to the canteen where he had no doubt in his mind that he would be swamped by the others.

Paarthurnax had watched it all along with other assessors from the commentator stand with great interest; his was sympathetic to those how had failed the test but couldn’t deny the amount of pride he felt with the number of initiates who had passed the test. He knew that the road ahead for them would only become harder and harder but he knew it was his responsibility to prepare them for the role of Defenders. He would especially be keeping an eye on the top initiates; Azrael, Aryanna, Blitz, Amir, Ta’ Mar and Johnson.

As Azrael entered the canteen, almost everyone stopped what they were doing to turn and stare at him. Not liking the attention, Azrael gave them an awkward wave before pulling his hood over his horns and bolting for the food isle. After shovelling as much food as he could onto his plate, Azrael took a deep breath and was about to turn and find somewhere to sit when someone yanked his hood off his head and began inspecting his horns.  
"What was with that fancy light show you performed in the arena then lizard boy and what’s with these freaky things?" interrogated the furry guy with the lightning antennas, Azrael remembered his name as Amos. "Would you please let go of them" asked Azrael but Amos wasn’t having it "not until you answer me" he replied. "It wasn’t a question" snarled Azrael and elbowed Amos in the gut hard, making him release Azrael’s horns and back up a few steps.  
"Why you little punk, I’m gonna fry you for that" threatened Amos as he sparked up his hands, ready to fight Azrael before he was shoved out of the way by a larger person. "Harm one of you and you harm us all!" boomed Ta’ Mar as stood in front of Azrael along with Aryanna, Blitz, Amir and Johnson "Never threaten friend Azrael again fiend or you will rue the day you made an enemy of the Martian colonies!" The tension in the air was almost unbearable as Ta’ Mar stared down at Amos, goading him into making the first, and last, move.  
"It’s always good to see such passionate rivalry between fellow students but if you could please leave such rivalries for the training grounds that would be ideal" spoke Paarthurnax as he entered the canteen with Ronin behind him. Ta’ Mar nodded and begun helping Azrael with his food to their table with the others while Amos just glared from his spot but never moved. "Thanks guys, really don’t want to be giving wrong impressions when we’ve just be through the test" sighed Azrael as he started eating some of the food on his plate "It is of no consequence friend Azrael, you were in need and we felt compelled to assist you" stated Ta’ Mar proudly. "Besides, since we are all the top six in terms of time keepers coming out of that test then that could mean that we end up in the same team" informed Aryanna "You really think so?" inquired Johnson "It does seem logical" inputted Blitz. Before they could put anymore though into Aryanna theory, Ronin called for everyone’s attention as Paarthurnax had a speech that he was going to deliver.  
"Thank you, Ronin. Now before I begin, I wish to congratulate every single one of you for passing the Tenrou Initiation Test and would like to formally welcome you all to Tenrou Academy for Future Defenders, may what you learn in these halls go on to help you in all your glorious deeds as a Defender of peace. Myself, Ronin and the other senior staff who were watching your actions in the arena have compiled your names and created your teams. Now I am going to have the list of teams in the main hall that you all met this morning, the matter of roommates is up to yourselves; the dorms can only occupy up to three people at one time so choose at least one other person to be your roommate. Once you have you team I want you all to take your time around Orion City to get to know your teammates. Jocasta will provide you with your student IDs that will also double as your key cards for your dormitories and access to the government’s grant as Defender students on your way out. Curfew is at 10, giving you several hours with your teammates, so be sure to be back on campus grounds by then but I’m sure you are all wanting to know who you’ll be teammates with so I’ll leave you to it" and with that Paarthurnax left the canteen with Ronin in tow.  
Like a stamped of bulls in a china shop, most of the students rushed as one to get to the main hall to see who they have on their team, while Azrael and some other level-headed students who took their time getting to the hall knowing full well that they’d have to wait to see their team.  
Upon arriving at the main hall, Azrael had to marvel at the sheer anarchy that had befallen some of these people and did manage to laugh when he heard Ta’ Mar’s booming voice stating that he will be victorious in the “retrieval of the names of his honoured comrades” along with several threats of dismemberment. Eventually the swarm slowly dissipated and those waiting patiently (not Johnson, he gave up after half an hour and charged headlong into the fray) started heading towards the boards. Azrael skimmed the list and found his name near the top with “Team A” highlighted next to it. Now that he knew which team he was in; Azrael went over to the Team Board to find out who was in his team. While looking, Aryanna and Amir joined him up at the board, also looking for their teams. Tracing along the names with their fingers; they all meet at Team A where they found that they were in the same team. "Guess your theory was correct after all Aryanna" sighed Amir as they noticed the other members of their team were Ta’ Mar, Johnson and Blitz.  
"You guys found any roommates yet?" asked Azrael "We already decided while you were in the arena; I’m sharing with Amir and the rest of our knucklehead teammates are in another" replied Aryanna apologetically. "Well I’ll be damned" said someone from behind them. The three of them all turned to see who spoke but before they could get a look, Azrael was tackled to the ground. "Can’t believe you actually made it dragon boy, and here I thought I was rid of you for good. Guess I simply can’t win huh?" joked the man who had Azrael pinned to the ground. "Not my fault the directions you gave me were completely useless after you abandoned me in the Wyvern Pit"’ the man got off Azrael and helped him to his feet. "what really surprised me was the fact they weren’t driven to go after you. You smell like a corpse that’s been in the desert heat too long Aztek" said Azrael as he dusted himself off. The man identified as Aztek was just taller than Azrael and wore an interesting gold and blue tunic covered in Aztec symbols, a strange red weapon was attached to his back and ran all the way to his ankles. He had a scar that ran horizontally across the bridge of his nose and his strange golden eye looked intense yet warm.  
Azrael and Aztek glared at each other, tension was building, until Aztek began laughing which prompted Azrael to do the same before they joined in a very brotherly hug. "It truly is good to see you Azrael; I saw your fight in the arena, good to see you and Imperious haven’t lost your touch" laughed Aztek "Thanks, sorry I never saw you among the others, you know how bad I am for spacing out" laughed Azrael. Aryanna cleared her throat and suddenly Azrael was once again aware that he wasn’t alone with Aztek.  
"I’ve told Blitz that we’re meeting up as a team after we’ve sorted out dorms, so let’s go see Jocasta about the dorms now and meet them at the fountain when ready" informed Aryanna as she led the way back to the main entrance where Jocasta was waiting with their ID cards and available dorms.  
"I believe congratulations are in order, for your acceptance into the Tenrou Academy. Classes will begin in a months’ time to give new students a chance to bond with their teammates and to find their way round the campus. If you could please place your hand upon the scanner, this’ll bio-seal your ID card so only you can operate it." informed Jocasta as, one by one they placed their hands on the scanner which printed out a blue card with a yellow stripe down one side. "Your allowances from the government will begin tomorrow and will be topped up monthly however, we do advise students to find an external source of income and not to rely on this grant. Opportunities for employment shall be posted in the main hall in the coming week." advised Jocasta as they placed their IDs into their respective wallets.  
"Now for the matter of dorms and roommates; could the first lot please step forward so we may begin room allocations" Aryanna and Amir were the first ones to step forward. "Here are the available rooms" said Jocasta as a list of available rooms became visible next to her. After browsing through the list, Aryanna and Amir decided to take Room 211 and Azrael and Aztek took Room 126. "Perfect, I’ll just update your IDs with the key card to unlock these room and you’ll all be set. Each dorm comes with the required necessities however, we advise students acquiring more substantial supplies once their grant has come through" informed Jocasta as she pulled up another map to show them where their dorms were.  
Once everything was sorted and they had dorms; the four of them made their way right of the main hall and up a flight of stairs and opened the door on the right, leading to a roofed balcony. To their left were several doors; each with a number on them starting with 1. "Guess that means we’re the next floor up." said Amir as she looked at the room numbers "Looks that way. I’m going to go check the dorm out then I’ll meet you guys in the main hall" said Azrael as he and Aztek walked farther down looking for 126. Once they found 126, Azrael used his ID to unlock the door.  
The dorm itself looked rather cosy; the small, carpeted hallway with the bathroom on the left-hand side gave way to a spacious three-bedroom room; two of the beds were next to each other with a bedside table between them, the third was through a small archway that also had a small desk opposite it with a window in between. Another desk was situated right of the small archway and a large bookcase right of it and a TV hung on the wall with a few comfy chairs round it. Azrael took the bed under the archway while Aztek sprawled across the other, sighing at such comfort. "Since you're going out with your team, I'll let you use the bathroom first" said Aztek as he got himself comfortable on his new bed.

Azrael sat quietly in the bathroom; as the water started heating up he removed his shirt to look inspect any damage in the mirror. He wasn’t the most muscular compared to other guys his age but he had his fair share in battle experience. He looked down at his prosthetic arm, flexing the fingers and turning it round, remembering the vow that he made when he received it. With the water finally at decent temperature, Azrael stepped into it and let the warm water flow freely down him for a while before he started washing his messy blue hair, trying to avoid his horns.

Feeling freshened by the shower; Azrael waited for the rest of his team in the main hall. Due to the few clothes he had with him; Azrael had swapped his clothes from earlier with a simple white top and a blue hoodie, his horns were hidden under a black beanie hat and his goggles were still present a top his head. It didn’t take long for the others to appear from the dorms. Much like Azrael, the rest of them had taken the time to freshen up and change into more casual clothing. Ta’ Mar still had his tailcoat on but was lacking his armoured arms and helmet revealing his long black hair and his Martian horns. Johnson was wearing a grey t-shirt with a dark green cropped jacket that had orange strips running down the arms and blue trousers that were tucked into his black and white boots. Aryanna and Amir appeared to have decided to stay in the same clothes they wore during the test and Blitz was still in full armour.  
"Looks like that’s everyone" said Aryanna "I’m telling you Blitz, you’ll out the locals on edge if they see you like that. Can’t you change out of that armour or something?" asked Johnson the tall cyborg. Blitz simply looked at Johnson with a blank look "All of you are the other ones currently seeing me in my true form. I have created a holographic hard-shell that is projected to whomever I choose" he then shrugged casually "you lot can see it simply because I can’t be bothered using it on you."  
Suddenly several stomachs began growling, indicating that food was in order. So, with the “dilemma” of Blitz’s attire behind them, the six of them decided to venture into the city to find a small café to have a quick bit to eat and to discuss their immediate future as teammates.

After wandering the city in sights of a place to have some food and to bond as team, they eventually found a small café that looked on to the small river that ran through the main part of Orion. The café was reasonable in size and came with a large variety in terms of food and drink. A young waitress came up to them and was about to take them to a table when, of all people, Johnson got on one knee, took her hand and begun confessing his unbound love for the woman. Save to say, the entire group was taken aback by this sudden realisation that Johnson was a “ladies man”; all except for Aryanna who had a much darker look on her face.  
"We are here to eat and to bond as a team. Not for you to attempt to ‘flirt’ with anything that has a dress am I clear?" said Aryanna calmly yet firmly as she dragged Johnson by the ear to a large empty table. Once they were all seated with drinks in hand and food on the way from the kitchen, Azrael’s prosthetic arm started to beep underneath its bandages.  
"Why do you keep that arm wrapped up in the first place?" asked Amir as Azrael slowly unwrapped his prosthetic arm and began messing with the wiring underneath the armour plating to stop the beeping.  
"As I’m sure Aryanna can confirm. Gallifreyans aren’t too fond of prosthetics due to their regeneration ability making them redundant. So, for a Gallifreyan to have one is frowned upon" explained Azrael as he tweaked with the wiring in his arm. There was a silence between them all as the food they ordered arrived and was served out to them.  
"Since we’re going to be a team I suggest getting to know one another before they assign missions to us" started Aryanna. One by one they all introduced themselves and stated where they were from. "My name is Aryanna and I’m from Gallifrey" "I’m Amir and I come from Lunar" "Johnson. I come from Spartax" "They call me Blitz, I’m a local from Tenrou."  
It stopped once it got to Ta’ Mar and Azrael who seemed to be staring at their food as if it was having a conversation with them. Finally; it was Ta’ Mar who broke the silence between them "If as you say and we are to be a union then I believe that we must hold to secrets between us and fully trust one another. Therefore, I shall divulge to you all my true identity." Ta’ Mar moved closer to whisper his true name to everyone "My true identity is that of Prince Tarlak Markeed of the Martian Royal Family" whispered Tarlak. They all stared at him for what felt like minutes before Aryanna spoke what they were all thinking.  
"Sorry to say but we already knew who you are Tarlak." Said Aryanna apologetically "Yea man, the look and fighting style kinda gave it away" added Johnson. Tarlak simply hung his head in shame muttering about how carless he was in protecting his identity while the other laughed awkwardly around him for his misfortune. "What about you Azrael?" asked Amir and suddenly everyone turned to face him waiting for him to spill his guts all over the table. Azrael hadn’t heard the question as he was still fiddling with his prosthetic when out of nowhere came a blue fist that smacked the back of his head.  
"Damn it Imperious I was busy there" grumbled Azrael as he rubbed the part of his head that Imperious had smacked as the Titan appeared floating behind him but was at least half the size he was in the arena. "I don’t care how damn busy you were, its rude to ignore when a lady is talking to you" grumbled the dragon man "I wasn’t ignoring her dragon breath. There was something stuck in my wiring was I was trying to get the damn thing out cause its irritating much like you are" grumbled Azrael as he argued with his Titan while the rest of them just stared in bewilderment at the scene. "I think he’s got a few screws loose" mumbled Johnson as everyone but Aryanna agreed with him. Aryanna cleared her throat with brought Azrael out of his grumbling stupor who returned there stares as if he had done absolutely nothing. "Sorry what was your question again?" asked Azrael sheepishly as the others simply banged their head off the table at Azrael’s obliviousness.  
"It’s your turn to introduce yourself" reminded Amir as they all got up from their head banging. With a heavy sigh; Azrael begun rolling up his other sleeve, revealing to them the dark blue scale-like skin that ran over the top of his arm as well as removing his beanie hat to once again reveal the horns protruding from his head and upon closer inspection, smaller horns were also sprouting along the sides of his face. "Given my appearance it is obvious that I am Dragónian" stated Azrael as he ran his prosthetic hand over his scally skin "Hold on a minute" said Amir "If you are Dragónian then what did you mean when you answer my question about your prosthetic arm?" This question raised quite a few heads at the table as they also realised the same conundrum.  
Azrael sighed heavily again, as if he was reluctant to ease the confusion the plagued the others but he explained it never the less. "I’m what people call a Hybrid. I’m half Dragónian with me getting their tough skin and magic capabilities and half Gallifreyan which gives me two hearts, a minor regeneration system and a connection to the Titan plane." explained Azrael  
"So, that thing you summoned during your test in the area?" questioned Johnson "That was my Titan partner Imperious. Due to my Hybrid “condition” I have a better connection with the Draak type Titans on Gallifrey than any “normal” Gallifreyan." answered Azrael. The rest of them were quite for a while as they digested the sudden information that they were given by Azrael. "How did you manifest your Titan like that?" asked Aryanna. This question came as a quite the shock to Azrael as he had never heard of a Gallifreyan being unable to manifest their Titan before. "Are you asking because you can’t manifest yours yet?" pondered Azrael, watching Aryanna hang her head in semi-shame confirmed his suspicions.  
"You could’ve fooled me when you were fighting those knights. You seemed to summon her no bother and even fuse her with that belt thing you’ve got so why ask?" said Azrael as he waited for Aryanna’s response. "How do you know it’s a she?" asked Aryanna surprised by Azrael’s response to her predicament. This time, it was Azrael to become slightly embarrassed by something.  
"I was raised in a temple that was closely attuned with the Titan Plane so I learned from an early age how to communicate and bring forth Titans. It’s also where I learned to channel this." Azrael brought up his hand and in the palm of it, he summoned forth a small blue and black flame-like energy. "This is known as Titanforce. Those who are closely connected with their plane can use this type of energy. It helps us summon Titans faster but can also be used like any other weapon if need be." explained Azrael as he blew out the dancing energy like a candle.  
"To which Temple to you owe such training friend Azrael?" asked Tarlak. With that single question; all positive emotions seemed to disappear from Azrael’s face, replaced with something much darker and painful as if remembering a puppy being kicked repeatedly. "It was the Temple of Yggdrasill" said Azrael quietly and every single person at the table suddenly understood why Azrael was making such a face. "A thousand pardons friend Azrael. I had no thought that asking such a question would bring you such pain." apologised Tarlak as he bowed his head in front of Azrael. "It’s quite alright Tarlak. You didn’t know and this is us bonding as a team so the more you know the better I guess." smiled Azrael but Aryanna could see that the smile was false and she was pretty sure the rest could to.  
The siege of the Yggdrasill temple had been remembered as one of the Kronan’s more horrendous attacks against the alliance to date. No one could understand their reasoning for attacking the Temple; not even the Gallifreyan President Rassilon could comment on it save for saying that it was a very horrible day for all and the losses of so many would be felt everywhere. As Aryanna thought about that day she couldn’t help but feel sorry for Azrael in all that he had lost on that day. However, to believe such a scatter-brained, honest and pure person had such a past was almost unbelievable and Aryanna vowed along with the rest of those there that, as long as they remained a team, they would make Azrael feel like they were his second family.

Somewhere in the deep vastness of space sat a large dreadnaught class ship. The very design of the ship screamed evil as it was covered in purple energy converters and tons of spiked edges. The dimly light and dull corridors were silent save for the noise of grunting and the ringing of weapons clashing which was coming from a battleground that was seemingly surrounded by pure darkness. Upon the battlefield were two warriors how seemed locked in conflict; one of which was a hulking giant completely covered in a purple-blue armour and was armed with a spear that had two blades at either side of it. His helmet was in the shape of a skull and the eye sockets were pitch black with nothing but a red pin hole for eyes. The other warrior was clad in a mixture of black and blue-grey armour and a knee-high waist cape. His choice of weapons consisted of a cutlass and a small dagger.  
The smaller of the two was constantly throwing himself at the larger opponent, trying of over-balance him but the giant stood firm and swung his spear like a woodcutter’s axe, nearly cleaving the smaller person in half but they were nimble for their height and by using that they managed to get behind the giant and deal a blow to the back of the neck; killing the giant.  
"Good work prince Anzu, I believe that was faster than the last sparring match we had this morning. Your technique is improving." spoke the giant’s “helmet” that lay on the ground in front of its kneeling body. "I appreciate the praise Crainius but you know as well as I that I need to keep improving if I am to survive serving the Master at this rank. Assassinations are quite common in this empire of ours." replied Anzu as he sheathed his dagger into its holster on the back of his waist and his cutlass into his holster on his right side. "Your Titan is right my prince, you have improved significantly in your rise of power." spoke a woman who appeared on the field out of the darkness. "for a Kronan that is."  
The woman was around the same height as Anzu and was built like a gymnast; slim yet muscular in appearance. Her attire consisted of black trousers with purple strips running diagonally across the thighs and grey prosthetic feet. Her upper half was covered by a black with purple outlined sleeveless tailcoat that had grey armoured shoulder pads and two grey gauntlets that went from her elbow to the back of her hands, leaving her fingers covered by black fingerless gloves. Her silky black hair was tied up in a high ponytail that still reached her mid back and her skin was a pale purple colour with a bandage covering where her eyes should be. The “headband” she wore covered the top of her head as well as coming down her temples and was covered the red orb things.  
"Is that a challenge Arachna?" Anzu asked as he rested his hand on his recently sheathed cutlass, waiting for Arachna to make her move.  
"I simply came to inform you that our agent has successfully infiltrated the academy but if you want me to as they say wipe the floor with you then I’d happily oblige." Arachna smiled almost sadistically. "As entertaining as that would be, I’m afraid our work takes priority this time but if you still want to go a few rounds, I am getting bored of fighting the Titan." said Anzu as the two of the left the field and headed for the communications deck to proceed with their plans.


	3. Assault on the Factory

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Having been a team for several months now; the time has come for the group to be tested against an agent of the Darkspace. Receiving a mission from the Principle; Teams A, B and C must band together to protect the Academy from this threat but who can they truly trust?

September 10th, 2245

The drop ship was silent with the three teams inside it as they were taken to their first assignment. Team A consisting of Azrael, Amir, Tarlak, Aryanna, Johnson and Blitz sat in a line on the right-hand side of the ship alongside Team C while Team B consisting of Amos, Quartz, Kaaba, Syrian, Arachnid and Emrys sat on the left-hand side of the ship. In the short time being at Tenrou Academy; these teams had proven to be top tier in their class which is why they were all chosen for this particular assignment by Paarthurnax.

24 Hours Ago:

The day had started much like any other since enrolling at the Academy for Azrael; he got up at dawn with Aztek to use the arena to spar before they met up with their teams at breakfast. Both teams had become fast friends, the fact that Azrael and Aztek knew each other made it a ton easier when they met.  
Aztek’s team was comprised of the Asgardian known as Torbjorn, the demon Rin who was always in fights with another teammate; the punk rock angel called Benedict but preferred Ben, the quiet Arachnid girl called Dayna and Najrn the self-appointed lady man and resident celestial. They all made up Team C and they had been known to be quite a destructive team although the other two were any better at times.  
As per usual, Rin and Benn were headbutting each other over something stupid while Dayna ignored them with Rock music and a book in hand. The rest of them were happily eating breakfast and chatting about the jobs they managed to pick up in those first few weeks of Academy.  
Azrael had managed to get a tech job repairing broken computers and othe electrical equipment while Bennie had managed to get Blitz a job at the garage he worked at which was next to Azrael’s work. Blitz turned out to be the garage’s “saviour” due to his ability to fix everything. Aryanna and Dayna and both gotten jobs at the local library where they chatted about books, music and anything else to pass the time. Tarlak and Aztek joined the local radio station much to everyone’s surprise and they turned out to be quite good at their job. The café that Azrael's team went to when they first found they were a team became a regular stop for them, so much so that Amir was offered a job there which she happily took.  
Due to them being students at the Tenrou Academy; all their outside work was informed that there was a possibility of prolonged absence due to external work for the Government. Which is where the strange announcement came for asking for Teams A, B and C to report to the principal’s office. The group of friends all looked at each other in wonderment to what they all had done this time but, with nothing coming to mind, they all got up and headed up the stairs towards Paarthurnax’s office.  
The Principal’s office was massive. Several pictures were on display all over the office; each one with Paarthurnax and a popular Defender, Azrael even recognised a few of them as he scanned the massive array of picture. Paarthurnax sat at his big, long wooden desk with his computer to the right of him and his mini pile of paperwork, no doubt bills of damage from missions, to the left of him. His sharp golden eye stared at the three teams in front of him with his large hands messed together while covering the lower half of his face. He indicated to the three seats that were placed opposite his desk for the leader of each team to sit. Aryanna, Amos and Aztek each took a respected seat with the rest of the teams standing behind them waiting for Paarthurnax to explain.  
"Firstly, no one is in trouble this time." began Paarthurnax "In fact this is something quite good while very serious. Due these three teams top tier results the Corps. has contacted us with a mission for these three teams." This really got all of their attentions; even Amos’ who was about to fall asleep in his chair again.  
"The Cyberiad is one of the main factions in the Darkspace Alliance and have so far operated in secret and vanishing whenever we get close to them. However, we have reason to believe that they’re planning something in conjunction with the Defenders Tournament in November. Your mission is to infiltrate this base, find any information on their plans and safely demolish this base. I expect all of you in the hanger by 0200 hours, giving you the rest of today to prepare and rest up. Questions?" explained Paarthurnax to the three teams in front of him, over his many years as Principal here; he would never get use to the many faces he saw as they grew into incredible Defenders.  
"As per protocol; all your classes have been cancelled for the next two days and your jobs have been informed of your absences this afternoon and tomorrow." said Paarthurnax, knowing that most of their questions would be relating to their school work and outside jobs. "Alright if that’s all the questions to be asked then if you will all make your way down to the quartermaster in the Undercroft; they have your uniforms ready for collection. Azrael, may I have a word?" finished Paarthurnax as the motioned his hand towards the door, indicating for everyone except Azrael to leave. Azrael wasn't in the principles for long but when anyone tried to ask him about it; he simply shrugged it off and didn't say a word.  
For their first assignment; each student was to create a uniform that best suited them as well as their abilities and then hand this list over to the quartermaster so they could create a uniform for the student to wear during their missions for the government, each tailor made to the student’s specifications.  
The quartermaster was located underneath the main hall that was protected by a ID lock that only students and staff could open which lead down into a large open cave carved into the cliff side with a beautiful view of the ocean beyond. In front of them were three table each labelled with their team letter; on these tables were six suitcases with the initials of its owner. Once everyone had gathered their respected suitcase; they returned up to the main hall.  
"Let’s go to the arena to try these new suits out" suggested Johnson who was eager to see what these uniforms were capable of. The whole of Team A and C agreed with Johnson’s idea and much of Team B agreed save for Amos and Kaaba who didn’t want to waste their time with “weaker whelps” as Amos put it.  
Despite the odds between Team B and the other two teams; most of the members were good friends with one another except for Amos who was an unlikable bully and Kaaba who just prefer keeping to himself and seemed just plain creepy at times. With a plan now in motion, the combination of Teams A, C and majority of B made their way to the arena to try these new uniforms.  
After trying on their new uniforms and testing them out in sparring matches; it was time for lunch. Most of the large group made their way to the canteen for some lunch while Azrael and Aryanna stayed behind in the arena to spar some more. "Have you been doing the meditations like I showed you?" asked Azrael as they started with basic stretches. At the café when Azrael found out Aryanna was having trouble summoning her Titan at will, he offered her some insight to how she could summon her Titan which she happily agreed to. Several weeks into their training and Aryanna could properly summon her Titan partner Rosetta to which she got along quite well with. The group spent the remainder planning the best way to execute their mission along with relaxing in their dorms.  
The launch time came soon enough and all three teams convened in the hanger, dressed in their uniforms. The majority of the students’ present had kept their uniform the same as to what they wore during the initiation while the a few had requested some tweaks to theirs: Azrael’s attire now consisted of black combat trousers with a midnight blue split waist cape with a red sash across his waist. His upper half was also black with midnight blue armoured chest, shoulders and gauntlets with a grey hood and his goggles round his neck.  
Aryanna was wearing a blood red tailcoat with black trousers and her whip tied round her waist and hair tied in its high ponytail. Amir wore black trousers with her usual black jacket with grey hood but was also outfitted with dark grey light-weight armour on her shoulders and leather wrist guards. Rin was clad in black, rogue-like armour; his soulsword strapped to his back with two tantōs on his outer tights, tail swishing behind him as he fidgeted with his fingerless gloves and hood. Benn wore dark grey armour along with a black open tailcoat. With everyone present, they boarded the jump jet and were soon on their way to their objective.

Present:

The mission itself was a rather simple one. The Cyberiad had been spotted working on the outskirts in an abandoned factory which happened to coincide with numerous missing person reports in that area. The mission was to rescue the kidnapped people and gather as much intel they could before destroying the Raider’s base of operations.  
To best tackle this mission; the group decided to, rather than stay in their three teams, stay as one group and split said group into two teams; Sneaky-Beaky and Doorman. Team Doorman (consisting of Tarlak, Blitz, Johnson, Amos, Arachnid, Emrys, Aztek, Torbjorn and Najrn) were to act as a distraction by attacking the factory head-on while team Sneaky-Beaky (consisting of Azrael, Aryanna, Amir, Quartz, Kaaba, Syrian, Benn, Rin and Dayna) infiltrated the factory from above to rescue the prisoners and gather as much intel as they could gather before convening with Doorman team to finish destroying the factory.  
As the ship reached the first drop point; the Stealth team began making their way to the rear, preparing for a halo jump. With the factory now underneath them, team Sneaky-Beaky began their decent with Benn carrying Rin to take out any rooftop sentries while Azrael used Titanforce to create a giant construct to hover over the roof until there was a clear place to land. Benn and Rin located several sentries on the east side of the building and quickly descended to take care of them. With the sentries taken care of; Azrael descended with the rest of the team before dissipating the construct entirely.  
The team quickly canned the roof for any access points; only locating a door that appeared to be locked from the inside.  
"How the hell are we getting past that?" whispered Benn angrily to the others, "Maybe on the of the sentries has a key?" suggested Dayna. While the others were busy pondering how to get through the door, they failed to notice Azrael running his bandaged hand over the surface of the door. The argument for opening the door was silenced when said door was thrown over their heads and over the side of the roof, thinking there was another sentry they all turned ready for a fight; only to find Azrael standing there dusting off his hands before looking up at all the gawking faces.  
"What? You wanted the door open yea?" asked Azrael, looking at their dumbstruck faces with his innocent one. As everyone entered the base; Aryanna radioed to the other team that they had successfully made it into the factory and were proceeding with their side of the plan.

"Anyone want to ring the doorbell?" asked Johnson as they all stood in an imposing line at the factory’s giant shutter doors. After about a minute’s silence; it was Amos who attacked first with a bolt of lightning to one of the sentries on one of the watchtowers; suddenly the once desolate looking factory was full of action and alarm as the shutter door began opening to release the Cyberiad horde behind them.  
"Usual bet applies?" asked Johnson as he cocked his wrist utilities "You know it" replied Blitz as he configured his arm cannon "Today we shall bring honour to the institute we have pledged our live to" boomed Tarlak as he drew North Star from its sheath before the three of them led the team into battle in the hopes it gave the others enough time to complete theirs.


	4. Cyberiad Uprising

The group decided to split up as soon as they entered the compound to better complete the objectives; Kaaba led the remaining Team B members down the right corridor towards the command room to begin intel gathering, while Azrael and the rest went towards the prison cells to free the prisoners. As they got closer to where the prisoners were held, Aryanna decided to voice the growing concern that she simply couldn’t shake; "You’d think there’d be at least some sentries down here guarding the prisoners." This thought had been bugging the group as they wandered the cells looking for any signs of life with no success.  
Eventually they could hear a dull bang coming from one of the doors at the far end of the cell block, the group quickly rush to find a bolted steel door between them and the dull thudding. ‘Don’t worry, you’re going to be fine. I’m going to need you to stand away from the door is that understood?’ asked Azrael as he prepared to rip the door off its hinges. The thudding suddenly stopped, indicating the person was away from the door.  
Azrael went to take the door off when suddenly, a massive force came from the other side of the door, launching it and Azrael over the edge of the walkway. Emerging from the cell was something straight out of your nightmares. It was a partially converted Cyberiad Dreadnaught; packing tougher armour and deadlier weapons than the average Cyberiad Sentry. The human parts seemed to be long since deceased due to the discoloured, shrivelled skin and the rotting smell it gave off.  
Knowing that Azrael would handle himself, Aryanna decided that the best course would be to regroup with Kaaba’s group and hope they’d have enough raw power between them to destroy this Dreadnaught. While heading towards the command room, Dayna managed to slow the Dreadnaught down a bit by using her organic webbing to trap its feet to the floor and put up several web barriers between them and it. Upon arriving at the command deck, they were questioned by Quartz about what was wrong.  
"Cyberiad. Dreadnaught. Very bad and coming this way" huffed Benn as they all tried to catch their breaths. Once they were all composed; the two groups compared notes to see where they were with the mission.  
"It appears that the servers here have been wiped several times, we’ve not been able to find anything regarding this plan the Cyberiad have" explained Kaaba "and the prison cell was completely empty with only one Cyberiad 'guarding' it. A Dreadnaught no less" added Aryanna. "This doesn’t seem to be adding up with the intel we were given. It’s almost as if someone-" mused Amir when suddenly Quartz blasted her with an energy blast; knocking her out cold. "What the hell?!" shouted Benn before the rest of Team B began incapacitating everyone in the room.

No matter how hard they tried; the Cyberiad Sentries seemed almost endless. Having resorted to a circle formation as the horde of Sentries poured out of the factory to deal with the intruders and probably use their bodies and abilities for new Sentries. Just when they were starting to gain the upper hand, the Sentries suddenly ceased their advancements against the group’s circle. The group took this momentary ceasefire to compose themselves, while they were doing this; the Cyberiad began moving to the side, creating a clear path to the door of the factory."Be on your guard" warned Aztek as the group cautiously began walking towards the factory that the Cyberiad had been successfully keeping them from till now. Upon arriving at the front; the shutter doors began to slowly open, revealing what appeared to be Team B holding the rest of the stealth group hostage. "What the hell are you guys doing?" barked Aztek as he advanced menacingly towards the line-up of hostages, only for Amos to suddenly turn and punch Aztek in the gut, winding him. Aztek looked up to question Amos’ actions only to find his eye were completely dulled; the tell-tale sign of mind control and upon looking at the rest of Team B, Aztek realised they all had the same dulled eyes.  
"Sorry about Amos. He always was such a brute" said a voice from behind two Cyberiad Dreadnaughts. As the Dreadnaughts stepped to one side, it was revealed that the voice that spoke was none other than Kaaba. "What the hell have you done Kaaba? I thought we were on the same side, damn it why would you betray us like this?" questioned Johnson with frustration laced in his voice. "I would have to have been on 'your side' as you put it for this to be an actual betrayal" replied Kaaba as he walked in front of the captives. "I must say, it’s quite interesting having my mental prowess blocked in such a manner. Taking the minds of my so-called team was only a matter of time but the rest of you seem impervious to my attempts to take your minds" mused Kaaba as he stopped in front of an unconscious Aryanna.  
“I’ve heard that Gallifreyans are born with a natural telepathic ability. Now I could be wrong but it is possible that she is subconsciously protecting you lot from my mental probes” explained Kaaba as one of the Cyberiad Dreadnaughts brought her to the front of the 'execution site'. The members of Team A tried in vain to escape their captures to attempt to rescue Aryanna from whatever Kaaba was planning. The Dreadnaught brought Aryanna forward and lifted her up by her neck, "I have a theory; if I butcher her and bleed her dry, will the mental blocks in your heads disappear?" pondered Kaaba as he signalled the Dreadnaught holding Aryanna to execute her despite the growing protests from the other captives. As the Dreadnaught was about to deal a killing blow to Aryanna; a beam for blue and black energy shot out from the shadows and tore the arm holding Aryanna apart, dropping her to the ground coughing from the sudden ability to breathe again. Everyone turned to the source of where the beam of blue energy came from; to find Azrael standing in the doorway leading to what was assumed to be the prison cells.  
"Did you really think a door would stop me?" asked an unimpressed Azrael who sighed heavily "Guess I lost this bet with the old man then" he mumbled as he tested his prosthetic arm that had barley any bandages on it now.  
"And what bet would that be?" asked Kaaba as he slowly backed away from his current position, less confident now that Azrael had arrived. "Paarthurnax had a suspicion that there was a mole in one of the three teams given this assignment. He had me do a subtle mind sweep of everyone in the room when we were given it and I managed to get a read on everyone save for Amos and Kaaba. I thought it was Amos cause he’s a complete jackass to everyone while Paarthurnax believed it was Kaaba" explained Azrael "Guess I won’t be getting out of classroom cleaning for a week then" he sighed before composing himself and helping Aryanna to her feet. "Took you long enough to get here. Did you get lost again?" teased Aryanna as they stood back-to-back against the Cyberiad Sentries surrounding them "Not my fault you decided to leave me there with a steel door crushing me. Although to be fair I would run away from a Dreadnaught if the roles were reversed" replied Azrael.  
"If the two of you are done conversing with one another; surely you understand that just the two of you against this many Cyberiad Sentries is suicidal. To be fair, I am in a generous mood right now so I will accept surrender so long as you relinquish your psychic blocks on your friends over there" said Kaaba as he pointed to the captured Team A and Team C. The two of them decided to ignore Kaaba, much to his annoyance, and continue their conversation.  
"You look awful, are you sure that your prosthetic can take much more punishment?" asked Aryanna as she noticed Azrael’s prosthetic seemed to be a bit worse for wear along with a few scrapes and forming bruises on Azrael’s person. "Could say the same about you. How’s the neck?" replied Azrael "Bit raw but I’ll manage to still knock this sleazy git so hard he’d wish he could regenerate" replied Aryanna as she cracked a few knuckles and gave Kaaba one of her infamous death stares. Kaaba then sighed as he realised that they weren’t going to surrender anytime soon, "Fine have it your way, though the two of you are still outnumbered."  
"Did he just assume that there was only two of us?" asked Aryanna "It would seem so. You knwo what they say about those who assume" replied Azrael as they both turned to face Kaaba with an unsettling smile on their faces. "What do you guys think about Kaaba missing you out?" asked Aryanna. Suddenly; two flames burst from the floor behind the two of them, one blue and the other red, which took the forms of their respective Titans; Imperious and Rosetta. "I for one fine it rather insulting that he wouldn’t consider us a threat" sighed Rosetta as she turned to bigger Titan "what do you think Imperious?" the larger Titan simply snorted at the comment made by Rosetta before adding his own tuppence ‘I couldn’t care less if the whelp doesn’t consider us a threat. It’s his funeral regardless’ stated Imperious as he mimicked Aryanna by cracking his knuckles and sending a death glare. "Guess were going to have to get serious too huh?" asked Aryanna as her Rose Whip unravelled itself and slid down her arms. "Looks that way" replied Azrael as he used his Titanforce to create additional armour to cover himself and created a sword to attack with.  
“You two just focus on saving you’re friend and getting that damned traitor Kaaba. Leave this lot to us” said Imperious as both he and Rosetta moved in front of Azrael and Aryanna who knew it wasn’t their place to argue, especially with a Draak Titan.  
“We’ll create an opening for you but it’ll be a limited window so be ready” stated Rosetta as she readied herself for combat. Suddenly; the two Titans sprang into action with the grace of seasoned warriors on the battlefield, decimating Sentries left and right as they charged towards the captives and the frightened Kaaba who quickly stumbled back and ran farther into the compound. “I’ve got Kaaba. You help get everyone out of here and make sure the ones under Kaaba’s control are subdued” said Azrael as he kept on charging after Kaaba deeper into the compound.

The factory was quite dark; save for the natural light coming in through the holes in the walls from either age or weapon discharge. Having lost sight of Kaaba, Azrael no longer saw the need for the Titanforce armour covering him and dismissed it, keeping the sword ready to strike anything that comes his way. Suddenly a noise came from behind, Azrael quickly pivoted to the source; only to find Aryanna behind him. “Geez Aryanna you can’t sneak up on me like that” sighed Azrael as he lowered his sword “thought I told you to help the captives?” “They’re free and helping the Titans with the Sentries so I thought you could use some help” said Aryanna with a shrug of her shoulders. “Alright then. Just stay close to me alright, who knows where Kaaba is lurking” sighed Azrael as he turned his back to Aryanna to survey the empty space.  
A vicious smile broke out across Aryanna’s face as Azrael turned. She pulled out a small dagger like object and quietly went to kill him; only for the dagger to shatter against something made of blue energy. “You’re going to have try harder than that Kaaba” said Azrael with his back still facing ‘Aryanna’. Suddenly arms of the same energy came out of nowhere and grabbed Kaaba, forcing him to drop his mental disguise and reveal his true face. “How the hell did you do that?” demanded Kaaba as Azrael finally turned to face him. “And here I thought knew everything about us from reading our minds” mocked Azrael as he tapped his temple “Of course you’d have to get past the mental blocks that are in place. I’ll give you credit though; breaking those dormant suggestions, you planted in Team B were rather tricky to disable but as you said; Gallifreyans have are born with telepathic abilities and with the help of Aryanna we managed to free them from your control before even arriving” explained Azrael with a smile.  
Suddenly there was a loud bang as the large doors leading to where the others were fighting the Sentries burst open to reveal the combined might of the three teams and Amos restrained and unconscious on Aztek’s shoulders. “This is what happens when you decide to bugger off elsewhere when we ‘whelps’ come up with a plan” said Quartz as he started pounding his fist into his palm menacingly. With that said, everyone felt slightly as ease knowing that the mission was over and they could return proud. That was, until Kaaba began laughing uncontrollably  
“What’s the joke then traitor?” asked Quartz as Kaaba continued laughing, that feeling of mission complete started slipping away into a dire feeling of dread. It then that the group felt the rumbling from beneath the factory, as if the very cliff it sat on was begging to move. “The joke is you actually think you’ve won here” laughed Kaaba as the building around them started to crumble “We need to get out of here now!” shouted Johnson as he and the other heavy hitters attempted to keep the falling debris off the rest of the group as they made their way out of the factory before it became their tomb. Kaaba suddenly started to become transparent; revealing himself to only be a mental projection “The Ivory Knight sends his regards and hopes to be meeting you soon” said the mental projection as it shimmered out of existence leaving a shocked Azrael at the mention of the Ivory Knight. “Come on Azrael! This is hardly the time to space out on us!” shouted Blitz as he grabbed the stunned Gallifreyan and rocket boosted out the side of the building as it all began its decent into the sea below.

The group watched the rest of the factory crumble and fall into the vast sea beneath it from the hover jet. “What the hell was that and what did Kaaba mean by the ‘Ivory Knight’?” questioned Amir as they entire group fell silent “He’s back. Of course, he’s back. The bastard always come back when I even feel remotely safe. How the hell did he find me?” mumbled Azrael from the corner of the ship with a murderous look in his eye.“You sound like you know him” said Quartz “Yea you seemed to freeze back in the factory when Kaaba said it” added Blitz as they all began musing over how Azrael knew this mysterious Knight character.  
Azrael suddenly bashed his prosthetic arm against the hull of the ship, leaving a rather large dent in it, ceasing any conversations the group had come up with. “The Ivory Knight is the bastard that attacked the Yggdrasill Temple” said Azrael quietly as he looked at his prosthetic’s hand “He’s the reason I have this arm in the first place.”


	5. The Cyberiad Assault

The entire ship was stone silent after Azrael made the shocking revelation that the Yggdrasill Massacre, one of the Kronan’s most gruesome offenses to date, was cause by a single individual and that they had been responsible for Azrael losing his entire arm. The silence didn’t last long; for it was now that the cliff the factory had been sat on suddenly decided to erupt in a shower of boulders and building remains, revealing a Cyberiad Godkiller. “Oh, come on!” shouted Johnson as the Godkiller began moving out of the cliff “As if Cyberiad Dreadnaughts and the Cyberiad in general weren’t bad enough! How the hell are we to fight something that big?!” A Godkiller was a converted Cybertronian; a colossal automaton with every inch of it covered enough weapons there are capable of levelling a whole metropolis. Due to the size of it, the Godkiller required three Cyberiad sentries to pilot its motor functions alone which meant to disable the Godkiller, you’d have to find a way in and disable those sentries.  
“He’s on that Godkiller. I can feel it” stated Azrael as he joined Johnson who turned his alarmed face towards his still stoic teammate “You mean this Ivory Knight guy?” Johnson asked, “The same guy who you just revealed to be the Kronan that lead the Yggdrasill Massacre?” They were silent for a moment, reviling in the coming battles that could either make or break them before heading back into the ship to decide what to do. “My guess is there target is Orion. There’s a lot of political power there due to the congress this week and it would do a massive blow to the Alliance should they succeed” said Aryanna as they convened round the holo-table in the centre. “That would mean they’d have to go through the Academy first to get there” pointed out Quartz which most were already thinking. “Whatever their plan is; we need to get Amos back to the Academy so Doctor Thane can check for any mental damage done by Kaaba” explained Aztek as he glanced at the still unconscious Amos who was looking rather pale. They all agreed that the Academy was their destination so they entered the co-ordinates, buckled down in their seats and hoped they weren’t too late.

They arrived at the Academy with the Godkiller only a few hours out. It could be seen on the horizon as it advanced on the city like an impending plague. They had radioed ahead of their arrival to warn the Academy of the approaching Godkiller and that they had a few requiring medical assistance so, when they landed; Doctor Thane was ready and waiting with Paarthurnax. “I assume that, despite the Godkiller approaching, the mission was a success?” asked Paarthurnax to those who had remained while about half of the group went with the good doctor to the infirmary. “If by success you mean we were set up by Kaaba to be almost taken out by Cyberiad forces then yea great job team” said Johnson as they headed topside to join the other students and staff preparing to take on the Godkiller. “Guess that means I won the bet Azrael” said Paarthurnax with a hint of a smile but when Azrael didn’t return one, it unsettled him slightly turning to Aryanna for an explanation. “We have reason to believe the Ivory Knight I aboard that Godkiller along with the traitor Kaaba” explained Aryanna as Paarthurnax realised the extent of this threat. Once they arrived topside of the cliff facing the oncoming Godkiller that was almost in range to bombard the Academy, Paarthurnax turned to the remaining group “Now I know that you’re all tired and want to just sleep for a week but I’m afraid that your mission is not yet over. We need you to breach that Godkiller, take it down from the inside and if possible capture the traitor now known as Kaaba. Now I know Ivory Knight is important to some of you but it is imperative that you avoid all contact with him should he be in that Godkiller is that understood?” explained Paarthurnax as he looked at everyone present, Azrael especially, who returned with a nod signalling they understood.  
“Good now head back to the ship and wait for our signal to –” began Paarthurnax but was interrupted by Azrael who simply walked over to an open space and sat cross-legged with his hands pressed together. “We won’t be needing the ship for this or your distraction. Now if everyone could be less noisy; I need to concentrate” said Azrael as he made the same hand sign that he made in the arena to summon Imperious. Suddenly, Azrael was coated in blue and black energy and strange black marking became visible along his arm, under his eye and down his face. A circle of strange symbols appeared where he was sitting and one of the students pointed out to where the Godkiller was currently standing; the same circle had appeared in front of it.  
As the Godkiller waded closer to where the circle was; a giant fist suddenly burst out from under it and landed an uppercut, the surprise at made the Godkiller stumble back a few paces as, from the depth of the ocean, a giant Imperious rose from the depth of the sea to battle the Godkiller. “Never in all my days would I expect to see such a colossal clash for justice!” boomed Tarlak as everyone stared on in awe at the showdown in front of them. “How are you doing that?” asked Aryanna as she too had never seen such a massive Titan till now. “With great difficulty. Fortunately, I have a lot of Titanforce for someone my age which makes something like this possible for about 5 minutes” explained Azrael with great strain evident in his voice. “All that are coming with me aboard the Godkiller; step into the circle now”. The remaining members of the mission team (Aryanna, Johnson, Tarlak, Quartz, Emrys, Syrian and Rin) stepped into the circle where they were suddenly transported along with Azrael into the giant Imperious.  
“Alright big guy; we’ve got about 5 minutes until I run out of enough Titanforce to keep you this size. Let’s wreak this heap of junk and get that traitor!” explained Azrael as Imperious sprang into action; locking in conflict with the Godkiller with both sides showing no sign of ceasing.  
The Godkiller began charging up some of its many weapons on its body, planning on shooting through Imperious to deal damage to the Academy but Imperious was ready; he released the left arm and proceeded to roll the Godkiller onto its back, making the Godkiller miss its target. One of the beams managed to graze the side of Imperious’ face, Azrael hissed in pain as a cut appeared on the same part of his face that beam grazed Imperious. “Fist of the Maker!” yelled Imperious as his left arm became pure Titanforce and was shot at the Godkiller like a rocket, smacking it in the right shoulder before it tore all the way through. “Bones of Hassrath!” Imperious shot out several projectiles from his wings, each one aimed at the weapons littering the Godkiller, leaving it defenceless. “That takes care of the deadlier weapons on that thing. There’s too many to take out in my timeframe so I’ll leave the rest to you” explained Imperious as he launched another Titanforce fist at the Godkiller; this one containing everyone that had joined Azrael in the circle. “Did you get all that Headmaster?” asked Aryanna over her radio piece to make sure Paarthurnax had heard what Imperious had done. Instead of a replying over the radio, Paarthurnax simply began erecting a shield round the campus grounds as Imperious began to fade due to his time being up.  
“Good luck to all of you” said Paarthurnax as the Titan fist hit its target, successfully breaching the Godkiller armour and the radio went dead from interference.

The inside of the Godkiller wasn’t too different from the inside of the factory; good thing the Cyberiad had a thing for simple things as Johnson had stated when they scanned their surroundings. Thankfully they hadn’t been set upon by Cyberiad Sentries which meant they either hadn’t detected them or they had but were too busy dealing with the mass amounts of damage done by Imperious’ assault. “Right we need to split up to find Kaaba and the Cyberiad powering this thing” stated Syrian “It’s obvious that both myself and Quartz need to be on the one taking out the power due to Kaaba having controlled us in the past while Aryanna and Azrael can block his mental attack”. Everyone agreed with Syrian’s logic and so they set the teams up around her idea with Aryanna, Azrael, Rin and Tarlak hunting for Kaaba and the remaining lot would search for the Cyberiad batteries powering the Godkiller. As a safety persuasion; Aryanna and Azrael created a psychic web that connected everyone’s minds together so they could communicate via thought as well as shield them from mental attacks.  
With everyone set and the mind web working; the two teams split up to complete their assigned objectives before meeting at the left arm joint in one hour. Azrael’s team heading further up the Godkiller, likely to the main observation deck while Johnson’s team headed deeper into the Godkiller towards where the main power convertor would be located. Before they left the infirmary, Blitz had given them a rundown of where everything should be inside a Cybertronian so Johnson had a rough idea where they were going but was hoping to avoid fighting the Cyberiad until the very last-minute due to the current morale.

As Johnson’s group made their way down the Godkiller; Azrael’s team made their way to the main observation deck while trying to keep out of sight of the patrolling Sentries which Tarlak made very difficult with his constant want to fight the enemy. They eventually managed to make it into the main observation deck via the ventilation system where they managed to locate Kaaba in what appeared to be a heated argument with a woman. Though they couldn’t make out what Kaaba was arguing over, it was obvious that it didn’t faze the woman one bit but whatever it was seemed to have Kaaba really wound up. “I can almost make out what Kaaba is stressing about but I’ll need to get closer” whispered Rin as he used his heightened hearing to catch parts of the one-sided argument. “What’s the plan then Azrael?” asked Aryanna as she turned to face him; only to find Azrael was nowhere to be seen. “Please tell me he wasn’t stupid enough to go hunting that Ivory Knight person?” groaned Aryanna aloud as there was a sudden crash in the main observation deck. “Where the hell is he?” demanded Azrael as he stormed through the observation deck, not caring that he was surrounded by Cyberiad Dreadnaughts, “Where is the Ivory Knight?” he asked the woman who seemed more interested than surprised by the intrusion. Kaaba on the other hand looked ready to release a serious bowel movement when Azrael burst through the door “How the hell did you get here so fast?” demanded Kaaba but Azrael simply ignored him and turned to the woman “I won’t ask a third time. Where is the Ivory Knight?” This time the woman physically turned on the spot to fully face Azrael before making a gesture with her right hand and suddenly Azrael was pinned against the wall, stuck by black webbing produced by the woman’s hand gesture. “Now did your parents ever teach you how to speak to a lady in that manner? I would have gladly told you if you had simply said please” said the woman in a mock scolding tone “Honestly, and here I thought it was manner that make men. It would seem I was wrong. Now be a dear and get your friends out of the filthy vent up there.”  
That comment sent shivers down Aryanna’s spine as the woman turned her head to face where they were. Despite the woman having a bandage across where her eyes where, Aryanna could have sworn that this woman was staring straight into her very soul before they exited the vent and joined Azrael against the wall. “Nice plan you got going there you dumbass” grumbled Aryanna as she kicked Azrael in the ankle “I agree with the lady Aryanna. It was most unsporting of you to seek out this Knight on your own” added Tarlak “You could’ve at least brought me along” he added quietly but Aryanna heard him and proceeded to kick his ankle as well “This is not a pissing contest!” she hissed at the two scolded teammates. Tarlak hung his head in shame from being scolded by Aryanna for the umpteenth time while Azrael remained as stoic as he was when they left the factory. Aryanna was worried for him as she, much like the others in the team, had come to see the loveable idiot as family.  
“As amusing as this little family squabble is” spoke the woman with the bandaged eyes “I’m afraid you’re going to have to leave it till later as I have some questions.” Aryanna scowled at this woman; wanting to punch her smug face so hard her grandchild would be sore. She already knew this woman and herself wouldn’t get along. All of them remained silent while webbed against the wall, adamant they couldn’t be read by Kaaba and that any minute now the others would disable the Godkiller. “The only answer I want is where the Ivory Knight is” spoke Azrael but his voice was coming from behind the woman as he slowly walked his way towards her. Aryanna turned to where Azrael was; only to find a Sentry in his place, “What the hell are you?!” squeaked a panicked Kaaba while the woman remained calm and was even smiling which really unsettled Aryanna.  
“So, it’s you, well why didn’t you say so to begin with. Yes, I’ll tell you where he is. After I’ve had my fill” spoke the woman with calm yet sinister tone as she signalled the Sentries to surround Azrael. Aryanna and the other could only look on in worry as the odds continued to stack against Azrael’s survival. “Is all this really necessary?” asked Azrael, gesturing to the surrounding Sentries to which the woman simply replied; “We need to confirm who you say you are. If you truly are him then this should be nothing. The Sentries began their assault on Azrael one by one, each time Azrael dealt with them swiftly as he conjured various weapons with his Titanforce. As time went on however, Azrael started slowing down due to exhaustion from overusing his Titanforce; the Sentries began getting the upper hand due to their lack of any necessities, dealing blows and cuts that weren’t fatal but with enough of them they could be.

Seeing no alternative way to get out of his predicament; Azrael outstretched his arms with his hands open wide “Vortex Wind” he mumbled and suddenly all the Sentries surrounding him were blasted across the deck by some invisible force; with an exhausted Azrael in the centre with arms outstretched and facing his captured teammates but Aryanna was surprised by what she had caught a glimpse at. The closed eye the Azrael normally keeps hidden with his fringe was open; it was blue with no iris and the normally white sclera was completely black. It was an Eye of Harmony and there was only one family on Gallifrey that had such an eye. As if they had timed it to perfection; an explosion rocked the Godkiller, signalling that the other team had located the power source and was in the process of taking it out. As the Godkiller rumbled from this explosion, the webbing keeping everyone in place started coming apart; allowing them to escape their confines to which Aryanna and Tarlak rushed to help Azrael stay on his feet.  
“Looks like we’ll have rain check that dance of ours” said the woman as a purple circle appeared under her feet as she disappeared, leaving Kaaba and several deactivated Cyberiad Sentries in join them in a watery tomb. Rin knocked out Kaaba and left Tarlak to hoist the traitor over his shoulder as Aryanna led the way to the rendezvous point.


	6. Revelation of the Ivory Knight

The trip to the rendezvous point was made a lot easier, in Johnson’s opinion, thanks to the Sentries being deactivated due to their ‘plan’. The plan was to rush the place, find the nodes and destroy them in quick succession before dealing with any Sentries. So, it was an added bonus that the nodes also acted as the Sentries neural networks and hive mind central. Making it to the rendezvous point, they began the waiting game for the other team sent to get Kaaba, hoping they wouldn’t be long.

Getting to the rendezvous point was a lot harder to Aryanna and the others than it was for Johnson’s team. For one; Kaaba had regained consciousness and was now throwing insults and squirming in Tarlak’s vice grip but knew he wasn’t going anywhere so he tried his mind games on Tarlak. This ended with Tarlak smacking Kaaba against several walls as they turned the corridors deliberately to knock him out again. They had to work fast to try and avoid the falling debris from the collapsing headpiece. They managed to make it safely to the neck joint of the collapsing Godkiller and continued making their way to the arm when they found themselves in a large open space with no apparent exit.  
“I don’t remember coming this way” said Rin as they all turned about to head back the way they came. Only for the door to not be there. “And here I thought you were looking for me” spoke a voice from the other side of the room that made Azrael and everyone else freeze in their tracks. From out of the shadows, came what could only be described as a demon. This ‘demon’ was easily taller than Tarlak, clad in purple armour with where skin should be; was purple fire. His helmet was in the shape of a skull with red dots for eyes and more purple flames sprouting from both sides of it and his mouth.  
“And after all the effort I put into getting you here. It wasn’t easy to get Kaaba to plant that mission in Paarthurnax’s head mind you, cost him his cover as a student but that was a small price to pay for making this reunion happen” explained the Knight as he came into full view before stopping at the other end of the room. Aryanna knew that Azrael was planning something stupid however before she could turn and voice her thoughts to him, he had already burst past them all with incredible speed. Aiming his prosthetic fist for the Knight’s face; Azrael was sure he was going to connect with it when, at the last minute, the Knight raised his arm to block the strike meant for his face. “I see you’ve gotten faster that our last encounter” said the Knight as he batted Azrael back with little effort “but I’m afraid this level just won’t do” he said as he sent a blast of purple energy hurtling towards Azrael who crossed his arms in protecting against the blast.  
The impact further damaged his prosthetic arm while completely tearing apart the armour on his right arm as he crashed into the far wall above everyone else. Having seen his friend and teammate assaulted in such a manner; Tarlak drew North Star and began charging the Knight.  
“I’m afraid this is a private dance between me and the half-breed over there” said the Knight as he threw Tarlak across the room like a ragdoll before erecting a barrier circle around them in the corner. “I’ll allow you the privilege of watching but don’t dare interfere.” His calm yet sinister tone sent so many shivers down Aryanna’s spine that her legs gave out on her but what came out of the rubble where Azrael had impacted, scared her even more.  
From the rubble emerged Azrael but something was different about him suddenly; his right arm was almost completely covered in his black scales that now also dotted his face while his horns had grown longer with smaller ones appearing down the sides of his face. His wild blue hair was replaced by burning blue flames that seemed almost sentient in their movement but the most unsettling of all was the feral look that Azrael had on his face as steam practically rolled off his body. “I don’t recognise this form he has taken have you Aryanna?” asked Tarlak but all Aryanna could do was shake her head as they watched helplessly from the prison as Azrael faced off against the Ivory Knight.  
Azrael leapt forward again to attack the Knight, leaving a small crater where he burst forward from, and began barraging the Knight with punches and kicked in a very feral manner though at a much faster pace than before. Despite the speed and power behind Azrael’s animalistic attacks, the Knight didn’t seem to be effected by them in anyway, he almost looked like he was enjoying this outburst. Azrael went to land a roundhouse kick to the Knight’s face who simply raised his arm to deflect the hit.  
“Splendid, utterly splendid. Now let’s see if you can take what you can dish out” said the Knight and with that the table had turned as the Knight went on the offensive, throwing powerful strikes at Azrael enough to cause him to cough up some blood but despite this; Azrael kept on attacking the Knight with full force, exchanging blow after blow with one another but it was becoming more and more obvious that Azrael was beginning to run out of stream and would lose this fight. As the two connected fists, Azrael’s prosthetic arm finally gave out and shattered under the strain as the Knight’s fist kept going and connected with Azrael’s chest.  
The impact caused Azrael to cough up more blood as his body finally gave out and his appearance returned to normal. “How disappointing. I had hoped you would have proved more of a challenge this time around” sighed the Ivory Knight as he stood over the barely conscious Azrael “Alas I’ve had my fill and now it’s on to the business at hand.” The Knight moved Azrael onto his back as he performed strange hand formations that lead to purple flames appearing on his fingertips.  
“Ivory Devastation” was all the Knight said before plunging the purple flame fingers deep into Azrael’s chest, causing him to scream out in immense pain. Tarlak and Aryanna were banging helplessly against the barrier as the Knight slowly began pulling out a substance made of Azrael’s Titanforce. “He’s taking Imperious!” yelled Aryanna as she realised what the Knight was doing to Azrael as she doubled her efforts to get out of the barrier to save Azrael.  
Just when it seemed that all was lost for Azrael and Imperious; one of the upper windows suddenly shattered as a hooded figure leap into the room and sent yellow projectiles hurling toward the Knight. One of these projectiles managed to sever the connection the Ivory Knight had made to Azrael’s Titanforce; interrupting the removal and forcing the Knight to fall back. “Blades of Barenziah” said the hooded figure, now standing rather protectively over the now unconscious Azrael as the blades of light they had shot at the Knight returned to hover in a circle around this masked individual who removed their hood to reveal long, fiery scarlet hair.  
The Ivory Knight began returning to the shadows he originally came from, after concluding that he wouldn’t be able to finish what he started with Azrael. With the Ivory Knight now gone, the barrier keeping the others trapped dwindled and finally broke allowing Aryanna and Tarlak to rush to Azrael’s side only to be halted by the red-haired warrior who turned out to be a woman but Aryanna ignored her as she continued to Azrael’s side to inspect the damage. “Seems to me that he’s got a number of fractured bones and some internal bleeding. That and the fact his Titanforce has all but depleted and seems to be in a state of flux due to whatever that Knight was doing to him” explained the woman without turning to face Aryanna “Whatever the case, we must take him to the infirmary at your Academy immediately” finished the woman as she bent down to pick Azrael up, making sure to be as gentle as possible with him when he groaned at the movement.  
“Just who are you anyway?” asked Aryanna as the woman quickly lead them out of the large room to where a boat was waiting for them. The woman ignored Aryanna’s question until they were all on the boat and heading back to the Academy from the wreaked Godkiller. They remained in silence as they landed at the Academy where they were instantly swamped by the other team along with fellow students who wanted to know what happened aboard the Godkiller.  
“Alright let’s break it up everyone! Give this lot a chance to rest and gather their strength before you ask for any questions!” boomed Ronin as he and Thane helped the woman with Azrael to the infirmary with the rest of the team following suit for a check-up.

While the majority of the team were given a simple check-up along with some medicine to help with the pain; Azrael was the worst of the lot. Although the doctor had managed to heal any internal damage to Azrael’s internals and fixed any bruised bones he may have had, Azrael was still in a comatose state. They believed the cause of this was whatever the Knight was doing to his Titanforce before that woman had jumped in and saved him. Speaking of that woman; she had disappeared as soon as they had landed back at the Academy without giving Aryanna her name which was now bugging her to no end as Johnson, Tarlak and herself awaited word on their hospitalised teammates.  
After several minutes of endless waiting and anticipation building; Thane emerged from the emergency ward to deliver the news to Team A. “You’ll be glad to hear that both Blitz and Amir are in stable conditions and are currently resting for now but can be discharged later today” informed Thane as the three of them breathed a sigh of relief. “What’s the condition on Azrael?” asked Aryanna “We’ve had to remove his prosthetic arm removed due to a dangerous energy leak but I’m afraid he’s still comatose” informed doctor Thane with sympathy laced in his voice.  
Suddenly the front door burst open as two guards marched through and held the doors open for someone behind them. This person turned out to be the very same woman that had saved them from the Ivory Knight, still clad in her brown leather corset over a black turtleneck. She wore various armour parts such as gauntlets and knee high armoured plating over her black trousers and blue skirt. A white scarf was wrapped around her neck twice before falling to her waist where her crossing belts held a dagger and sword.  
“We have come to take the one called Azrael back to Gallifrey” stated one of the guards who were still holding the door as he handed the doctor a sealed letter to which he opened and read. As he read the letter, colour began leaving his face and quickly agreed to them taking Azrael with them.“Now hold on a minute” argued Aryanna as she marched up and stared the woman straight in the eye “Just who the hell do you think you are, coming in here and demanding that our friend and teammate has to go with you?”  
The woman remained calm and signalled the guards to lower their weapons before the replied to Aryanna’s question. “My name is Erza Sigma, granddaughter to president Rassilon of Gallifrey and Azrael’s elder sister.”


	7. Back to the Beginning

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> With the battle now over and everyone recovering; there still lies the matter of happens now. With his connection to Imperious tarnished and his arm in ruins, Azrael has set his sights on finally returning to Gallifrey but will the team agree with this decision?

September 25th, 2245

It had been several days since the attack on Orion City and the Academy. Newsfeeds were calling it ‘The Cyberiad Assault’ as they showed footage of the Godkiller duking it out with a giant dragon man. The wreckage of the Godkiller was being retrieved by the Cybertronians so they could honour their fallen brother in arms while the Academy went about helping them and recovering from the assault. Kaaba had been impression deep within the Undercroft where Ronin and Minnie continued to question him about the Kronan Empire and their plans. Majority of the students involved with the faux mission had all recovered; Amos had awoken and had immediately apologised to everyone for his actions during the mission and vowed he would try to make it up to them someday. The thing that surprised Aryanna about this the most was that the members of Team B started joining them and Team C at breakfast and were all becoming close friends.  
Erza had become quite a regular visitor to the Academy since Azrael had awoken after two days comatose. When he had seen her the first time; the amount of anger and hurt that he hurled her way came as a massive surprise to his friends but decided not to pry into it too much. But eventually, Azrael seemed to calm down and started talking to Erza after several visits; they would sit in his hospital room and catch up on all that the other had missed, it was a real sibling bonding moment that Aryanna didn’t want to disturb. “I’m sorry about Magnus Azrael. I know you really looked up to him” said Erza as she took his hand and rubbed the back of it in a circular motion, “me too” sighed Azrael “if only I was stronger, then I would’ve been able to have saved him and I wouldn’t have brought such shame to the Sigma name.” tears began running down his face as he reached for his missing arm and gripped the wound “This is what I deserve for being half breed trash.” Aryanna was about to burst into the room to scold Azrael for thinking such a thing when she heard a fist connect with the top of his head. “How many times must we tell you that you are not worthless trash! If Magnus or lord help you grandfather heard you talking like that, they’d do a lot worse than me” scolded Erza as she brought Azrael into a frim, sisterly hug.  
Satisfied that she wouldn’t be need, Aryanna was about to back away from the door when someone barged past her into the room. “There you are my red-haired angel. I have searched far and wide to behold your magnificent beauty” proclaimed Johnson as he advanced on Erza with the rest of Team A in tow, all moaning at Johnson’s attempts to court Erza. Before Aryanna could deal with him however, Erza had place her hand on the hilt of her sword with malice in her eyes but it was the deep growl coming from Azrael that caused Johnson so take several steps back before he was sent to the morgue. “We had heard you were feeling much better and wanted to pay you a visit” said Blitz “Truly, we would also like to extend our apologies for our teammates’ behaviour” said Tarlak as he bowed before Erza. Aryanna gave Azrael a side glance to see that his head had now turned to the window with a thousand-yard stare evident on his face. “How’re you feeling?” asked Aryanna as she took a step towards Azrael’s bed to which made him return from his far-off stare and turn to look at everyone in the room. “I’ve been better but I’ll manage.” smiled Azrael “This isn’t the first arm I’ve lost.” Although he was smiling at them, Aryanna and she was sure the others picked up on the fact that it was indeed a fake smile but they didn’t push on it. With a heavy sigh, Azrael knew they saw through his smile so he sobered up before answering the unanswered question hanging in the air.  
“I’ve decided to return with Erza to Gallifrey and I want all of you to come with me”. When Erza had demanded that they hand Azrael over to them, she explained that the Ivory Knight had tampered with Azrael’s Titanforce and his connection to Imperious was almost at the point of snapping due to it. The only place where it could be healed was in the Draak Tower located on Gallifrey but Aryanna argued to High Hrothgar that he was better staying where he was; at least until we awoke then see what he said. Erza had agreed to these terms, allowing Azrael to stay until he awoke from his comatose state to which she would ask him if he wanted to return. Everyone on Team A knew that Azrael would decide to return to fix the bond between him and Imperious but they were honestly rather surprised at the second part of his statement. Though they weren’t going to argue with a trip to one of the oldest and most beautiful planets in the entire alliance.

September 30th, 2245

It took Azrael five more days before he was eventually discharged from the infirmary and Paarthurnax agreed to their ‘trip’ to Gallifrey. He was joined in seeing them off by both Teams B and C who were extremely envious of Team A’s adventure to Gallifrey. “You’d better come back in one piece” warned Aztek as he ruffled Azrael’s hair “I expect to hear all about it when you get back” said Dayna to Aryanna and Amir with Syrian nodding her head to second what her roommate was saying. Of course, with Tarlak being Tarlak, he became extremely emotional and started crushing everyone in his infamous death hugs which resulted in a comedic chase between a tearful Tarlak and a fearful Quartz with everyone laughing at the scene. “Safe travels to all of you and be sure to give your grandfather my regards” smiled Paarthurnax as they boarded Erza’s ship.

The trip to Gallifrey gave Aryanna time to think about what she would do the minute she returned to Gallifrey. Due to her also being Gallifreyan, she also had a family waiting for her although an estranged one at best. “You’re nervous about seeing your parents, again aren’t you?” asked Erza as she sat next to Aryanna who was currently staring out the window. “That obvious huh?” was all Aryanna replied to which Erza snorted “Don’t need telepathy to see how it bothers you. Azrael is in the same boat with his grandfather you know, they weren’t on the best terms when last they saw one another.” “You seem pretty close with him” replied Aryanna as she turned to face Erza to see a sadden look appear on Erza’s face. “We weren’t to begin with no thanks to me.” sighed Erza “Both myself and Magnus were born pure Gallifreyans into the Sigma house and we lived a happy life with our parents and grandfather until the Kaleds attacked Arcadia. The resulting assault had killed our mother and left a deep emotional scar on everyone as she was loved by many. To push the invading Kaleds back, we reached out to our allies the Dragónians who helped us in pushing them back. In return, we promised to strengthen our bond with them through marriage between our father and the king’s daughter Maven.” explained Erza as Aryanna sat there and listened intently. “I remember hearing about that, my father was on the council and was one of the ones that refused such a proposition” said Aryanna as she remembered her parents expressing their negative opinions about how Gallifreyans were to remain pure but she was too young to really understand their reasons.  
“Many Gallifreyans were angry at this violation of tradition but the joining went ahead regardless and they were wed inside the Draak Tower as a symbol of their two species. At first, I resented her for replacing my mother, but as time went on I started to hate her less and was starting to like her when she fell pregnant with Azrael but there was a complication with it due to them being different species. She died giving birth to him which drove my father to ending his own life. Making me despise him for taking another mother from me.” Aryanna had remembered hearing about the passing and her parents telling her to not interact with the ‘half-breed trash’ along with other parents to their children. “Despite killing our parents at birth and despite all the hate he received for being a half-breed. Azrael kept on smiling and trying to be as good a person as he could which made me hate him even more and I couldn’t fathom how Magnus wasn’t angry with Azrael for killing his second mother like I was. When I confronted him about it, he simply stated that ‘a flower doesn’t choose its gardener but must be nurtured regardless’ which I didn’t understand at the time.” tears at started forming in Erza’s eyes as she continued telling Aryanna about Azrael’s life on Gallifrey. “I was so thrilled to hear that Azrael would be leaving for the Yggdrasill Temple with Magnus to start his training as a monk. I thought with him gone I would be able to move on from Maven’s death but instead I found the halls very empty and lonely without Azrael running down them laughing as Magnus chased him. Without realising it, I had grown attached to him and was going to miss him despite my now dwindling hatred for him. So, when news of the attack on the Yggdrasill Temple and the death of Magnus and Azrael arrived, I just couldn’t handle the immense levels of sorrow and guilt I felt in learning they had both been killed.” at this point the tears were following freely as Erza continued her sort of confession and resentment of her previous actions towards Azrael.  
“I swore an oath on that day to honour their memory by becoming one of the most powerful warriors Gallifrey had ever produced and to ensure that our ancient traditions that created such distain against Azrael would be changed for future half-breeds to be accepted. So, imagine my surprise when I was asked to fill in for my grandfather for the Academy’s initiation test and Azrael took to the stage. I about had a heart attack from it” laughed Erza as she remembered informing Rassilon about what had transpired at the Academy.  
“Magnus explained to me why everyone back home hated me so much the day he was killed” said Azrael from behind them. They both spun round to find him standing in the doorway with a regretful look on his face, clutching his left shoulder where his prosthetic should have been. “He said that it was because I was different and they were too busy preserving what they had to focus on the prospect of the future. He that it was believed I was the cause of mother and father’s deaths which led to me running away from the temple. Magnus got killed because I couldn’t handle the truth and I after losing both him and my arm to the Knight. I couldn’t face more resentment from you and give you yet another reason to hate me despite my good intentions.” With this statement, Erza was on her feet and embracing her sobbing little brother in a hug that was equally returned as they stood there and just let the tears fall. “If this is what you’re like with me, I’m dreading the reunion between you and grandfather” laughed Erza “I’m sure he’d scold me and hug me more than being a sappy lovey-dovey sister like you” remarked Azrael which ended with Erza’s fist connecting with the top of his head. “Say anything about this to anyone and you’ll rue the day, clear?” threatened Erza as Azrael backed up a few paces smiling his cheeky grin “No promises there my sappy Sister” he laughed as he ran out the door with Erza in tow yelling threat of murder and dismemberment.

The rest of the trip to Gallifrey was filled with keeping Erza away from Azrael in case she actually followed through on those ‘death threats’ of hers. The minute they arrived in Gallifrey’s upper atmosphere and began descending to the planet, everyone save for the Gallifreyans were hogging the windows to see outside. The skies of Gallifrey were a burnt orange shade with several snow-capped mountains as far as the eye could see. Cities were built into the sides of these mountains, each teeming with life all busy with their work and lives. As the ship flew over these golden cities; they suddenly found themselves in a massive open bowl-shaped lake with seven towers standing tall at the edges of each mountain top before they sloped into form the bowl lake. At the centre of the bowl above a large hole-like waterfall, stood the Gallifreyan citadel in all its golden glory. The citadel was massive in comparison to the other buildings they had passed on the way here and it surely the most beautiful, even without the water surrounding it like a fantasy castle. As the ship landed and they began to walk into the citadel, several people around done a double take on them and were pointing as well as whispering about Azrael who was becoming more and more self-conscious about his horns that Erza had refused to have covered.  
“I will not have you hiding those damn horns!” she has scolded him as they left the ship “To hide them is like refusing a limb as your own. I don’t care what they say or think, what matters is what you think.” Of course, as per usual, Erza was right in that he shouldn’t hid who he was because the majority didn’t approve. “What are those towers atop the mountains?” asked Amir as they entered the citadels main gains and made their way to the centre. “Those are the Seven Titan Towers. They each represent the Titans that we share this planet with through a connect forged at birth” explained Erza as she led the group through the complex. “What happened to that one over there?” asked Johnson as he pointed to the remains of the eighth tower in the distance. “That is where the Ivory Tower once sat until the Forbidden One took it with him into the Darkspace” said Erza without turning to face them. When they reached the main citadel, a crowd had already began gathering to see who these new arrivals where. Many them were pointing at Azrael Aryanna had noticed but she couldn’t help but notice that a few were also pointing at her as well. ‘Guess nothing has changed’ she thought with a heavy sigh.  
To greet them at the front of the citadel was a tall man with black hair although the sides were starting to grey. He was dressed in black Gallifreyan robes that he covered with a long red, silk-like trench cost that had golden Gallifreyan symbols as frillings down both sides and an armoured gauntlet draped over his right arm and eyes the seemed to have endless wisdom behind them. The group stopped just in front of him where Erza, Aryanna and Azrael all bowed to this man who was greeting them. “Grandfather” spoke Erza while Aryanna said, “Lord President” and Azrael said nothing. Quickly realising that they were in audience with the leader of this planet; the rest of Team A quickly bowed their heads in respect.  
“Granddaughter, who many times have I told you that you are not required to bow before me every time we meet” spoke Rassilon as he inspected the group with his grey eyes before they landed on Azrael who was still bowing. “Come. There is much to discuss in private” said Rassilon as he tapped the ground with his staff, creating a resonating boom before turning to lead them all inside the palace.

Rassilon guided them into the main throne room; this room was as big as it was beautiful. The main walkway that they were currently walking had two viaducts running the length of the room, starting at the statues poring the water and curving outwards at the end to run off the edge of the building into the lake below. Surrounding the large throne were statues, probably of the legendary Titans of old that helped Gallifrey vanquish the Hordes that once plagued them. Rassilon signalled the surrounding guards to temporarily leave their posts to give him and his guests some privacy.  
“Do you have any idea how much stress you have put me through?” asked Rassilon once they were alone. Azrael knew it was aimed at him so he hung his head in shame for causing so much hassle. When Azrael heard his grandfather’s, footsteps heading his way, he was expecting a verbal beat down that would surely scar him for decades to come but what came next, he never saw coming. “It’s good to have you back my little salamander” said Rassilon as hug enveloped Azrael in a tender hug. Azrael felt damp patches on top of his head which meant his grandfather was crying which lead to him releasing the tears he didn’t know he was holding in.

Once Erza had finally managed to pry her grandfather off Azrael; Rassilon asked why Azrael why he didn’t simply try to return to Gallifrey, which lead to Azrael revealing what he had done after the Yggdrasill Massacre. “I was rescued by the War Monks of Kota who took me in to tend to my wounds and give me a place to stay. That’s where I meet Aztek; we were more of rivals than friends to begin with but he was one of the few that didn’t look at me as damaged good at the Temple, of course when my eye manifested he wouldn’t talk to me for a whole month in fear that I’d send him into the temple wall again.” Azrael lifted his fringed to reveal his grey eye, the same as Rassilon’s. “I eventually got the hang of using it but decided to keep it covered to stop people from putting one and one together.” “Why did you hide it? And why use your mother’s name of Dunlor?” asked Rassilon which made Azrael laugh awkwardly and squeeze where his prosthetic should be; a sign that he was anxious Aryanna had noticed.  
“The reason for me hiding my eye and using mum’s name was because I felt I had tarnished the Sigma name enough by being a half-breed as well as surviving the massacre instead of Magnus. I couldn’t face disappointing you again and enduring the distain” said Azrael as Rassilon and Erza could only sit there in silent anger at Gallifrey’s ancient views on purity which were in dir need of being rectified. “If I may interject” spoke Tarlak who had been silent until now, “In the Northern Colonies back on Orion, we Martians originally we at war with the neighbouring species over the very same reason. Despite all this, two nobilities of Martian and Friggian met in secret and fell in love which lead to the birth of the first Hybrid Prince who made it his life goal to end the hostilities which he done through his many labours.” explained Tarlak “It took him quite a length of time to achieve it but through his labours and determination, he eventually began changing the minds of everyone around him which lead to the birth of the North Point Alliance we know today”  
“Your father was quite the extraordinary man. I had the privilege of welcoming him to the Alliance before his passing” said Rassilon “He would be proud of the man you are becoming Tarlak.” Tarlak accepted the praise with a warm smile upon his face as he silently remembered his father telling him tales of his grant adventures.“It truly is wonderful to see you again little salamander but with the current system in play with our people; I can safely assume that you aren’t hear just to reveal you’re still alive” spoke Rassilon as he returned his gaze onto Azrael, wanting to hear the rest of his grandson’s tale. Azrael explained to Rassilon that his plan was to become a defender to honour Mangus’ memory as bring the Ivory Knight to justice.“And now we come to the part where you have lost two arms to him and now your connection with your Titan” said Rassilon as he pieced together what had happened from Erza’s report on the incident with the Godkiller. “I’m afraid that it won’t be possible to fix the connection you had with Imperious Azrael” sighed Rassilon “However, there is a chance you can create a new one by taking the Tower Trail.” Azrael had heard of these Trials; it was an ancient tradition from before the Gallifreyans created bonds with Titans at birth. The initiate would enter the Tower best suited for them to face whatever challenge the Tower would bestow upon them, those successful came out bonded to a powerful Titan while those who fail either went mad or never came out the Tower.  
“What your Martian friend said was right, Gallifrey must adapt to change if we are to survive the coming future. Which is why, as a sign of us taking that first step towards a better future, I extend an offer to your friends to take the Tower Trails as well” said Rassilon. This took Aryanna, Erza and Azrael off guard, as they knew that the Tower Trials were a sacred part of Gallifreyan lore and to let outsiders partake in these Trials was severely founded upon by the Elders. After a silent conversation between the four of them, Tarlak nodded and bowed in front on Rassilon, “We would be honoured to be the first outsiders to take such a task.” Rassilon nodded to show his gratitude “Thank you all for this but, before you take the trails I must divulge their secrets and what truly happened on the day of Azrael’s birth.


	8. Family Revelations

“Are you sure about this grandfather?” asked Erza “If the Elders found out, they’d be after your head for sure” “If the Elders had their way; Gallifrey would have never created the Alliance and the whole galaxy would have been subjugated to the Darkspace.” Replied Rassilon as he dismissed Erza’s question about the Elders. “I shall divulge to you all the reason behind these Trials you will undertake” said Rassilon as he began explaining the history of the Tower Trials, “Long ago; there lived a great and powerful being known as Susion who defended the galaxy from the darkness that threatened everything. Susion managed to bind the darkness but at the cost of his own life, but Susion knew that the darkness would return some day, so he had his followers create nine weapons to hold a part of his power. The power held within these weapons was so immense and came to be known as the first Titans. The Deity Type Titans” explained Rassilon. “We created these Trials to find those who were worthy to continue the quest Susion had begun in ridding the galaxy of the darkness once and for all but to this day, those ancient weapons have remained in those Towers. Which is why I believe that all of you are meant to take these Trials of old. Perhaps the reason these weapons are still in the Towers is because the Gallifreyans aren’t meant to wield them.”  
Everyone was very silent, digesting what Rassilon had told them about the Trials. “What does this have to do with the day I was born?” asked Azrael. Rassilon pinched the bridge of his nose and breathed heavily but before he could get a single word out, the silence was shattered by the booming of the door being flung open. “Lord President I must protest to this action you wish to carry out” spoke this man who strode into the room as if he was the most important person there. As he passed the group, he gave Azrael the dirtiest look imaginable while completely ignoring the outsiders of the group but took a double take on Aryanna before confronting Rassilon.  
“Councillor Reindor Lundar of Gallifreyan Court” whispered Erza to those who were confused by this man’s sudden and loud entrance. “Wait Lundar as in…” mused Johnson as he quietly pointed to Aryanna who was as still as a statue with her eyes hidden behind her hair. “I simply must protest against your heresy of allowing this half-breed and bunch of outsiders taking our most sacred of Trails. We were chosen to protect these weapons and Gallifrey will one day wield these weapons –” the councillor was silenced by Rassilon raising his hand. He waited a few minutes to compose himself before calmly replying, “I see that the council has made a decision but since this decision was made both behind my back and to undermine my grandson, who just returned to me after too long, out of his birth right I have elected to ignore anything the council has to say on the matter. As lord president, I grant those willing to take the Tower Trails to help advance our goals for peace safe passage to the Towers and pray they are successful in their Trials.” With that said, Rassilon turned away from the councillor to summon the guards back to escort the team to the guest quarters to rest.  
“A word daughter” spoke the councillor as he went to take Aryanna to the side for a quiet conversation. Aryanna simply turned and gave her the coldest look she could muster, “There is nothing you can say to me that will make me fall back into you clutches father” spoke Aryanna with such venom in her voice that made the councillor take a few steps back. “Nothing you say will ever make me forget what you done.” At this point, Aryanna was almost red with rage but she managed to pry herself away from them and join up with the others as she quietly seethed at the back.

It felt as if this place went on forever as they wondered countless bends and corridors before Erza finally stopped in front of another big set of doors. “This is the guest quarters which is where you will be spending tonight before your Trials tomorrow. Should you need anything, simply think my name and I shall come to aid you” said Erza as she opened the doors. “Wait, does that mean that if anyone think of something related to you, you can hear it in your head?” asked Johnson as they entered the room. “Oh, we all heard your thoughts lover boy” replied Aryanna as she walked past him, Johnson turned to Azrael for clarification only to see him as white as a sheet, “I need so much bleach” was all he said as he turned his twitching eye to Johnson “Make them stop.” Everyone started laughing at the fact that Johnson couldn’t keep his thought to himself. The Guest Quarters had several large beds lined up against them with very little else in the room. Two large glass doors sat at the far end, probably balcony doors. Everyone went to claim a bed while Azrael and Ezra remined at the door. “Not joining us?” asked Amir as she turned to face the two siblings still standing at the door. “Sorry guys, I was going to deal with something before the Trails tomorrow and wanted to catch up with my grandfather. Hope you all can understand” said Azrael apologetically to the other but they all understood how he felt on this so they let it slide as he and Erza bit them good night and left the Guest Quarters.

While Azrael was off reconnecting with his family and everyone else sleeping despite Tarlak’s incestuous snoring; Aryanna found herself tossing in her bed unable to sleep. Finally giving up on sleep, Aryanna threw a pillow at Tarlak as she passed him to head for the balcony to get some fresh air, only to find Amir leaning on the balcony staring out at Gallifrey’s moons. “Tarlak’s snoring keep you up too?” asked Amir without turning to face Aryanna, “That, tomorrow’s trials and running into my parents has got my brain going at million miles a minute” sigh Aryanna as she joined Amir in staring out at the night sky in silence.  
After a couple minutes of silence; Amir turned away from the night sky to look at Aryanna, “Do you want to talk about what’s on your mind?” At first Aryanna didn’t say anything as she continued to stare up at the night sky. Knowing that Aryanna probably won’t answer such a personal question, Amir decided to head back inside, “There isn’t much to talk about in terms of my family” said Aryanna, stopping Amir from going back inside “All he’s ever cared about is elevating his status, caring little for those less fortunate and dealing with anything shady that would increase the power he already holds. I thought I would be the exception but as I grew older, I realised that wasn’t the case.” At this point Aryanna was gripping the locket that was around her neck when Amir rested her hand on her shoulder. “Just because you are bound by blood; does not make those people your family. For the brief time that we’ve been together; our team has been more of a family to you than they’ve ever been, remember that” spoke Amir as she hugged Aryanna before they both went inside to get enough rest for tomorrow’s Trials.

The throne room was lit only by the lamps of fire that shimmered across the water and the golden pillars between them. Rassilon was sat on the throne while Azrael and Erza both stood at the bottom of the stairs the lead to the throne. “I suppose you are both due an explanation as to what happened the night your parents were killed” spoke Rassilon as he stared down at his grandchildren from the president’s throne. The amount of pride he had been feeling since Azrael’s return to Gallifrey had been like a fire that simply refused to go out; to have the remains of his family return to where they should be had filled him with pride and a parental warmth. Alas, he knew that once Erza and Azrael knew the truth about what had happened that night that everything would change between them, and it terrified him that it may drive them apart for good this time.  
“As it is common knowledge; the Dragónians helped us vanquish the Kaleds from our planet in our time of need, despite the council’s wishes to remain confined in our own power, and in doing so created the foundations that lead to the formation of the Alliance we know today. Another piece of common knowledge is that to strengthen this bond; princess Layna and my son Vargus were to be wed as a sign of peace between the Gallifreyans and the Dragónians. They were wed in the Draak Temple as it was the best place to represent our two-species coming together” explained Rassilon before pinching his nose and sighing, probably due to the stress the council had him under due to his action with the trials. “They lived happy lives together and I was so overjoyed to hear that Layna was pregnant with my third grandchild. However, when news spread of the pregnancy many houses began conspiring against house Sigma based on their blind loyalty to the ways of old. So, when it came to your birth, they conspired to have the three of you executed.” This revelation came as a surprise to both Erza and Azrael, they had always known that the higher houses of Gallifrey were hell bent on making sure that the old ways survived and that Gallifrey must remain pure but to go so far to keep that ideal alive was simply mindboggling.  
“You were born in the Draak Tower however, despite our best efforts to make the location a secret, someone still found the location and it was the worst possible person to find out.” Rassilon took another deep breath before he continued the painful story “The Draak King had seen this attack coming and tried to prevent any harm coming to you, he reached out and created a connection with you just as you were being born, the resulting Titanforce was too much for your mother to bare and she passed away in childbirth. Your father had sensed this connection but before he could act on it, a hooded figure breached the Tower and attempted to kill you. Fortunately, I was there and was able to help your father repel this assassin but not without your father succumbing to grievous wounds that led to his death.” The sudden realisation that he wasn’t the one who killed his parents had lifted a previously known burden from Azrael’s shoulders, “What happened with this connection to the Draak King?” asked Erza as she gently squeezed Azrael’s shoulder, happy that he had found closure on something plaguing him.  
“While it would have been possible if it were a regular Titan, a connection with a Titan King is impossible to sever unless the recipient were to pass away. Instead, we came to an agreement with the Draak King; he would bestow his power at a regulated level until he was old enough to be able to wield his weapon. In the meantime, he entrusted your survival to Imperious until that day.” “Is that why I was sent to the Yggdrasill Temple to join Magnus” the nod from Rassilon confirmed this as Azrael quietly digesting the sudden truth of his origin while Erza continued to squeeze his shoulder affectionately while Rassilon continued to stare at the two, hoping that the truth hadn’t driven the last of his family away.Azrael began walking up the stairs towards Rassilon with his shaggy hair covering his eyes, Erza was about to stop him but Rassilon raised his hand to signal it was alright as he stood up from the throne as Azrael approached him and embraced him in a hug. “Thank you for this Grandfather” was all Azrael said as he hugged Rassilon tight would simply returned the hug as he was relieved that he hadn’t pushed him away for what had happened.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Planning on making the trails of each character a single chapter so this'll be long


	9. Trials of the Titan Towers

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Having accepted Rassilon's proposal at taking the ancient Tower Trials; the team begin to prepare for one of their most challenging moments which could either make them stronger, or drive them completly insane. Treat lightly for once you start the Trials; you'll never be the same again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapters is a lot shorter than previous due to my idea of doing everyone's trial per chapter. As per usual, I own nobody used in this story.

The team were busy preparing themselves for their upcoming trails in the Guest Quarters. Earlier in the day, they had received their robes to be worn during the event and were currently getting ready for it. The outfits were fundamentally the same; black trousers and boots along with light grey short kimono shirts closed and held together by a red sash across the waist. Once they were ready, Erza was waiting outside the Quarters to take them to the launch pad where a ship was waiting to take them to the start point.  
The journey in the ship was short and quiet as it landed at the base of the mountains, surrounded in a peculiar mist that gave it a sense of mystery. Erza led the group up to an old looking gate that had a strange symbol stamped on the top, next to the gate was Rassilon and Azrael who had gotten his hair cut so it was more of a tidied mess and shoed off more of his horns. Azrael was wearing similar attire to the rest of them, with the exception of the blue haori with black edges and a black dragon symbol on the back. He also had a new prosthetic arm attached which seemed for advanced than his previous arm.  
“You guys ready for this?” asked Azrael as they met up in front of the misty gateway. “About as ready as we’ll probably ever be” replied Johnson as Erza left them to join Rassilon in preparing something for the others. “You have been asked to undertake our most sacred of trails and will be challenged both in the mind and soul. As per tradition, you will each be given a blank haori” Erza began handing a haori to each person one at a time, “These haori are specially made so they can determine which tower you shall be tackling on this day.” As they put the haoris on, the colours immediately changed; Johnson’s changed to orange with a sun symbol on his back, Tarlak’s went white with a snowflake, Blitz’s was purple and had a lightning bolt, Amir’s became brown with a mountain and Aryanna’s turned red with a rose.   
“These changes to the haori you wear is represent of the Towers you are to face. For your fiery spirit, Johnson the Inferno Tower has chosen you. For Tarlak, that cool head of yours has earned you passage to the Tundra Tower. Your logic has granted insight to what the Fara Tower Blitz while Amir; your sturdy commitment to your belief and your friends has granted you passage to the Terrain Tower” explained Rassilon as he led the group towards the mists.   
“This is as far as we can take you. Once you go beyond the gate, the only way out will be to go through the trails. Now are you ready to begin?” spoke Rassilon as he stopped in front of the gate and turned to face the six that were about to face one of the biggest challenges of their lives. They were all silent for several minutes, exchanging glances to see if any would back out; but none of them wavered and so Rassilon stood aside to grant them passage.  
“May the eight deities watch over and protect you on your journey” said Rassilon as all six of them walked side by side into the mists and were suddenly gone from view. 

The mists made it almost impossible to see anything; Aryanna couldn’t tell if there was a boulder smack bang in front of her or if it was one of her teammates. Thankfully, as she kept on her forward march she didn’t walk into someone or a boulder, although she had stubbed her toes a few times. Eventually; a tall tower started becoming more visible as Aryanna continued to wonder the mists which she began heading towards until a large cave could be spotted. The cave was silent save for the dripping of droplets on the cold stone floor, the only light was the occasional fire torches that farther into the cave.  
Aryanna followed the torches down a slightly narrow passageway that led into a large open space. Parts of the ceiling were missing as streams of light could be seen coming through to illuminate the natural shrine at the far end. Aryanna descended the stone steps towards the shrine, ever cautious of whatever may actually pounce out from the shadows but she eventually reached the shrine without a single attack. Behind the shrine was a large slab of rock that had a rose chiselled into it, the same rose that was on her haori she noticed, and in front of the slab was a shrine that held a medium sized pink pearl that had the red rose symbol inside. Aryanna was about to reach for the pearl when she heard something approaching, quickly drawing her whip as she turned around, Aryanna came face to face with the last person she wanted to see; her father.


	10. Let the Trails Begin!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Finding themselves somehow separated by the strange mists that envelope the mountain range. Our heroes must survive the challenges of those who would stand in their way of completing these Trails by any means.

“What the hell are you doing here?!” demanded Aryanna as stood there, surprised that someone had followed her into the cave; let alone her father of all people. Rather than answer her question; Reindor began walking towards her without a single word until he was standing right in front of her. “You have served me well daughter; now hand the relic over to me” said Reindor as he held his hand out, expecting Aryanna to give him the orb but Aryanna just held it closer to her chest and tried to back away from him. Reindor became frustrated and went to grab the orb but as he reached to grab it from her, the orb shimmered a pink light before knocking Reindor back a few paces.  
The light from the orb was so immense that Aryanna was forced to drop it and back away as it rolled away from her and began to shine even brighter than before, this time in a rosy red light and rose petals began spiralling out of nowhere. The small twister of petals eventually subsided to reveal none other than Rosetta; Aryanna’s Titan. “What is the meaning of this Titan?” spoke Reindor, enraged that a mere spirit could between him and his prize. “I am here to prevent any and all tampering with this trial that is to determine whether or not this person is worthy of my full power” explained Rosetta as she placed the orb upon where the clips for her petal cape met above her cleavage. The petals that were a part of her twister arrival once again sprung into life and once again enveloped Rosetta as she revealed her true from to them; a large, demon-like creature with black and red skin emerged from as the rose petals began converging on this creature to create armour. The petals formed large gauntlets that ran from the ends of her hands straight to her elbows, they also gave the creature large wings and wrapped around it’s thorny whip-like hair as well as a helmet that covered the top of the head. The orb that Rosetta had placed above her cleavage was now embedded in the centre of her chest as Rosetta remained hovering above them in all her true glory.  
“The Six Deity are aware of your interference with these trials and although we are bound to the weapons that you wish to take for you own gain, we will not allow such evil intentions come to those who wish to see our powers used for their intended purpose” boomed Rosetta as several pink runes appeared around Aryanna and her father; created a bubble around them. “This trial shall determine whether Aryanna Lundar of Gallifrey is truly worthy of my trust and my power. Her opponent shall be Reindor Lundar of Gallifrey who seeks to obtain my orb and further his lust for power” stated Rosetta as she stood outside the bubble that held the father and his daughter. Aryanna knew that without Rosetta, she would be at a slight disadvantage to her father who had already summon forth his Earth Titan in the form of a giant hammer, “Regards of your relations to me, I shall obtain that which is rightfully mine and I will rid our once great race of the weakness the has plagued it for so long” exclaimed Reindor as charged Aryanna without hesitation.

Lost. That’s what Johnson was taking away from this; he was lost on some alien planet with not a single beautiful woman in sight. Sighing at the current predicament, he was seriously wondering what was going through his head when he agreed to such a thing. His musing was put on hold when he heard footsteps all around him, hoping it was his teammates playing some sort of prank on him for getting lost. Alas, that wasn’t the case as several shuriken flew past the side of his head, forcing him to barrel role behind a sizable rock that he used for cover as the footsteps appeared to have slowed to cautious walking. Deciding to test his luck; Johnson stole a peek round the rock to spy what looked like a robot ninja draped in a blue curtain wrapped round its head and main body. On its back were two different sized scimitars, the larger on the back while the smaller was sat sideways on the back of the waist.  
After a couple of minutes hiding behind the rock, Johnson believed that he could slip away from the curtained ninja but when he started to move away; some surrounding rocks were loose so when Johnson moved away, they clattered against the ground below; giving away his position to the strange ninja guy who quickly turned in Johnson’s direction and threw more shuriken at him. Johnson leap out of the way but in doing so was completely vulnerable to the ninjas smaller scimitar that was suddenly pressed against his throat. “I accept you surrender” said Johnson despite having the knife pressed against his throat, the ninja seemed confused by this as it tilted its head to the side before Johnson clocked it over the head with a rock he had picked up and ran. Johnson had no idea if the ninja guy was still after him but he just kept on running until he came across a cave of some sort. Believing that it would be the best place to hide and rest for a bit, Johnson entered the cave. The cave was very dark save for the dim light coming from farther inside; deciding that it was worth investigating, Johnson cautiously made his way towards the dim light.  
Following the light; Johnson came out of the narrow passage into a large open space, lit by the beams of light coming through the cracks in the ceiling. At the far end was a shrine that had a big slab of rock behind it with the same sun symbol that had appeared on the back of his haori. Upon further inspection from his view at the cave mouth; Johnson could also spot a spear-shaped weapon embedded in a rock in front of the slab, the Deity weapon if he wasn’t mistaken. After spending a couple of minutes surveying his surroundings and concluding that there was only him present; Johnson descended the stairway and walked over to the spear but as he reached for the spear, something flew just shy of his nose, forcing him to fall back a few paces with his wrist mounts armed and ready. Hearing footsteps descending the step he had just walked himself, Johnson turned to face the same ninja that had tried to behead him earlier. “My, aren’t you a persistent one” commended Johnson with his gauntlets still raised, “Let me guess; you’re either here to take this spear thing and kill me or you’re the challenge the old man spoke about before we got lost in here. So, which is it?” Though the ninja showed no sign on answering, instead he simply stopped in the centre and stared up at Johnson, at least Johnson thought they were staring, hard to tell with the goggles and curtain covering their head. Rather than answer Johnson’s question; the ninja simply reached for its head piece and began to unravel it from its head.  
The face that was hidden behind the head piece was one that Johnson would recognise anywhere and in seeing it sent shivers straight down his spine.

“Simply cannot believe that I have lost everyone. We were standing right next to one another so where is everyone?” muttered Tarlak to himself as he wondered the mists alone with no company. He had the feeling that he was being followed but rather than act on nothing more than a feeling, Tarlak remained true to his path as he scoured for any sign of his friends or this Tower. With the mists making it almost impossible to know where he was, Tarlak eventually gave up his search and started looking for somewhere to rest. Doubling back the way he came, Tarlak suddenly found himself inside what appeared to be an ice cave. Black rocks paved the path into the cave that was completely covered in sparkling, wondrous ice. Suddenly blue flames sprouted to life leading deeper into the cave, it took Tarlak a whole minute to realise that this was the path to the tower he had been seeking. With renew vigour, Tarlak powerwalked with a vengeful purpose down the shimmering hallway which led him to a giant open space with towering blocks of pure ice the beams of light bounce off to create a wondrous aurora overhead. At the far end stood a shrine with the Tundra Tower sigil engraved into it with a hammer length, double sided mace encased in solid ice.  
Careful in his decent of the stairway, Tarlak crossed the large room towards the weapon however, his path was barred by a large, mysterious hooded figure armed with two scimitars strapped to his back. “I am humbled that you will be my opponent to complete this Trail given to me by a very honourable man” spoke Tarlak as he bowed to the hooded figure in front of him who done the same in kind. Tarlak drew North Star while the masked figure drew the larger scimitar and they both charged, barely missing one another until the slide to a halt with their backs to each other.  
Tarlak heard the falling of the shroud that covered his opponents face just as he had aimed for, he turned to get a good look at his opponent but he never would have expected this person to be here let alone fighting him for the Tundra Deity.

Blitz was never a fan of the outdoors; even before the incident that turned him into more machine than human, he always enjoyed staying indoors and helping his papa with his work and tinkering with the tech. The mists had somehow separated him from his remaining teammates and was currently messing with his sensors so he could not track them. Magic; that’s what Blitz believed to be the cause of such interference as he stomped and grumbled his way through the mist. So deep inside his musing on how the mists worked, Blitz suddenly found himself connecting with a wall. Specifically, a cave wall that appeared to have a rather purple tinge to it. Upon further analysis; Blitz discovered that these rocks held a small electrical charge that could damage his internal systems so he slowly backed away from the wall.  
Only to find that he could not find the way out of the cave he had wondered into. Cursing himself for being as scatter-brained as Azrael, Blitz quickly spotted a light coming from the far end of the cave and decided to investigate, hoping it to be one of his teammates. Although it was neither the way out nor one of his teammates, Blitz couldn’t help but be in awe of the sheer natural beauty of the large cave he had entered. Though there was no light coming in from the ceiling, the electrically charged pillars gave off a purply-blue tinge that lit the place in mysterious wonder. At the far end stood an anvil that had a hammer slightly embedded into the top of it with a large pillar behind it with the Fara symbol illuminated by the current running through the rock.  
As blitz descended into the large opening, a hooded figure appeared out of nowhere between him and the anvil. Knowing that he would have to defeat this person to obtain what he was sent here for; Blitz removed the haori before he deactivated his hard-light shell, revealing to his opponent his hulking cybernetic frame. The figure drew two scimitars and charged rather quickly towards Blitz.

Amir managed to find her cave without much interference and was already in her skirmish with another hooded figure with two scimitars, she was managing to hold her own against her opponent with some difficultly but due to the familiar fighting style she managed to keep her head about what was going on.

Azrael made it to the Draak Tower ready for a fight to earn the Draak weapon but what he was met with was something far worse than a fight. Standing between Azrael and the Pendragon Sword was none other than his deceased elder brother; Mangus.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So everyone has made it to their respective towers and the Trials have begun. But, who are these mystery ninjas that have such impact on everyone? Going to have to wait and see aren't you


	11. Trials of Courage and Serenity

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> With the Trails fully underway; Aryanna and Johnson find themselves face-to-face with ghosts from their pasts. Can they overcome these ghosts so they can embrace the future?

Reindor was relentless in his swings, trying his absolute best to take Aryanna’s head clean off. While Aryanna was mostly on defence as she ducked and weaved in between Reindor’s massive hammer swings, mainly aiming her blows at her father’s legs as she knew that’s where he was weakest. Reindor noticed this so he decided to change his style up a bit by slamming the hammer into the ground, creating shockwaves that knocked Aryanna back before he lunged forward at her, giving no time for recovery.  
Aryanna knew that she was disadvantaged without the help of her Titan but she was going to have to rely on the training she picked up on her journey, “I would ask how you can be so ready to fight your own family. But then I remember who I’m dealing with and it all becomes clear” huffed Aryanna as she kept her distance from her father.  
“Don’t you dare bring that up. You know full well what happened to that woman you call your mother was necessary” stated Reindor which only made Aryanna madder than ever, “That woman you mentioned just so happened to be my mother, you heartless, self-righteous bastard. What you call necessary, I call murder and the abuse of power” yelled Aryanna as she grabbed the locket around her neck and ripped it off, “This locket is all I have to remember her by now thanks to your need for power. We were a good family once, but ever since the war and the wedding between us and the Dragónians; you’ve been scrambling for power, even tried to take mum’s totem abilities but I will have no more of it! Your mad search has killed this family!”  
At this, the locket in Aryanna’s hand began to emit a small silver flame that enveloped her hand but she felt no pain as she lifted her hand up into the air. The surprised look on her father’s face meant that he too had no idea what this light coming from the locket meant, however that look turned in one of rage as he charged at her, “You had your mother’s totem power all this time?! Give me that power, it belongs to me!” yelled Reindor as he got closer and closer to Aryanna but before Reindor could reach Aryanna; the silver energy coming from the locket lashed out in the form of a giant eagle that protected Aryanna from her advancing father. The large silver eagle landed behind Aryanna and shrouded her in its large wings, preventing Reindor from making any advancements on Aryanna.

Johnson simply couldn’t believe it; as the shroud fell onto the cold floor, the face of the ninja was none other than his father; Franklin Smith. However, this version of his father was much younger than his actual father, he still had his black hair although the edges were whiting a little bit, his left eye was still scared and the ever-present black stubble on his face.  
“How the hell can you be standing there?” demanded Johnson to his ‘father’, “Is this part of the trail?” Franklin didn’t respond to Johnson’s questions, instead he simply started walking towards him at the slowly increasing rate until he was running straight for him. Hesitatingly, Johnson rose his gauntlets and fired at Franklin’s feet but that didn’t detour him from his path as he simply threw more shuriken at Johnson, forcing him to move quickly. Despite knowing he would get an answer anytime soon from the stiff; Johnson was still hesitant to raise arms against someone that looked like his father, even with their differences. Instead he simply opted for dodging his old man’s attack until he could figure out a way to incapacitate him which turned out to be easier said than done. This went on for several minutes; Johnson dodging Franklin’s seemingly endless barrage of shuriken attacks while still refusing to retaliate against someone who looked exactly like his old man. Johnson and his father were never truly close; as the younger son of the famed Spartan Veteran, Johnson was constantly being overlooked for his elder brother and was constantly being compared by his father which created a rift between them. Despite all that resentment, Johnson still considered him an honourable man and his father no less so to be expected to fight him was simply out of the question.  
“What’s the matter, can’t dig up the courage to face me?” finally spoke the ninja, not only did he look exactly like his father but he also sounded like him too which really messed with Johnson’s head but what really got him was the dig at his confidence. “What did you just say?” dared Johnson as he stopped running and faced his ninja father, “I always knew that out of the two of you; you were the least –” the dig was interrupted by Johnson who, in sheer rage, had finally lifted his gauntlet and shot the ninja in the gut.  
“I’m not him. Never again will you compare me to him. Just because he’s supposedly perfect in every way doesn’t mean I have to be. My confidence comes from my friends, they are my rallying point” said Johnson as punched his 'father' with every statement, “And I’ll be damned if I’m going to be a weak link. We support each other, something you never did” and with that final sentence, Johnson reframed form punching him more and began walking away from the defeated ninja; who suddenly had a different face before collapsing into a pile of dust.

The cave suddenly came to life; sprouting plumes of fire in random locations and parts of the ceiling collapsing from the sudden activity of the cave. Johnson quickly looked around the cave for the cause, only to find the embedded spear shaking and glowing a bright orange. The spear broke free from its bindings and flew towards Johnson, only stopping just before him and expelling the orange glow skywards. The orange energy twisted and warped until it took the form of what appeared to be a red armoured griffin which landed right in front of Johnson. This creature before him was completely covered in armour; while the main body was coloured red, the head piece was a white shade with several red lines atop the head and sides of it along with three horns; two at each side and one at the front. The wings appeared to be made completely out of fire as they sat there with their orange energy generating warmth that Johnson relished in.  
“You have shown great Courage in facing the fear you hold for your father. You have passed the Trials of Inferno” spoke the griffin without actually opening his mouth, leading Johnson to believe it was telepathically talking to him, “My name is Emperious, the first Titan of Inferno and King to all under its banner. For passing my Trail of Courage, I have chosen you Johnson of Spartax to be my partner. Do you accept?” All Johnson could achieve right at this point was a simply nod of the head as the Emperious’ blue eyes continued to stare holes into him. Emperious simply nodded back before moving aside, “This is the Sol Spear, it will act as a tether that binds the two of us across the planes of existence” explained Emperious and signalled Johnson to take it. This prompted Johnson out of his stupor and he began walking up to the floating spear. Upon coming into contact with the spear, Johnson felt a slight tingling on the arm that held the spear, this tingling intensified as he yelped and went to inspect his arm. The tingling subsided as black markings in the shape of flames appeared running from the back of his hand and up to his elbow. “These marks show that you are now bound to me” explained Emperious, “We are now connected much in the same sense a Titan would bond with an infant at birth.” “So, what happens now?” asked Johnson as he inspected his new ‘tattoo’ before picking up the spear he dropped, this time no tingling occurred but the spear did feel warm, like Emperious. “Now you will return to the elder one a changed man, he will teach you in the ways of summoning me forth but until then only you will see and hear me” explained Emperious as he led Johnson back the way he came and into the mists once again.

It was so bright and beautiful, Aryanna almost thought she was in parade but then she remembered a giant grey bird of energy saving her from her oppressive father and shrouding her before all when black. Taking in her surroundings, Aryanna noticed that there was nothing in her except her, she was about to yell to see if anyone else was here when the same bird that saved her swooped down and landed in front of her, forcing Aryanna to take a few steps back. “I have no idea who or what you are but you have my thanks for helping with my father” said Aryanna as she bowed in front of the bird that simply cocked its head before doing the same. Aryanna raised her head to see the bird was still bowing, hoping that sh wouldn’t get eaten; Aryanna raised her hand and touched the bird’s head. Suddenly, the bird began to shine brightly upon Aryanna touching its head and was replaced by a beautiful woman. She wore a brown totem dress and brown woollen boots and a darker, plain brown top with pointed shoulder pads. Her hair was a stunning silver colour that ran all the way down to her knees and had a red talon tattoo just under her right eye.  
The sudden appearance of this woman who was smiling fondly at Aryanna had her shaking with tears flowing down her face as she recognised this woman no matter where they were, “Mum?”  
After their heart-warming reunion that involved a lot of hugging and Aryanna bubbling like a baby, they had settled down and Matron began explaining everything to Aryanna, “We were a happy family once; you father wasn’t focused on power alone and was content with what he had and the position he held. However, that all changed when the Kaleds invading us and the war began. You see the reason he is after so much power in the beginning was to ensure that an attack like that would never happen again but as time went on; that purpose became corrupted when the half-breed prince was born. Reindor was outraged that such a thing could happen to their society, so he and a bunch of other purists devised a plan to rid Gallifrey of the ‘impure one’ and consulted the Forbidden One for aid in executing the plan. When he came to me with the ludicrous plan, I immediately turned against it and tried to warn the president but your father stopped me and then started demanding that I should hand over my totem abilities to someone how had the stones to keep Gallifrey pure. Of course, I refused to do such a thing and I’m pretty sure you saw the rest” explained Matron as she sighed heavily at the retelling of her husband’s decent into a madness for power.  
“What happened to your totem powers?” asked Aryanna after a couple minutes of digesting the extend her father would go and how much he truly hated Azrael. Matron simply smiled at her daughter seeing that, despite everything, her eyes were of those who would always see the best in people; no matter how far gone they were.  
“With your father’s descent into madness, I knew it was a matter of time before he would no longer be content with the power he had, so I hid my totem in the one place he would never look” Matron picked up Aryanna’s locket and opened it, releasing the stored energy inside, “I always knew that he would come for you, so I left my totem with you as a mean to protect you along with Rosetta, my Titan” the energy subsided and where the locket had been, was now a small eagle totem, roughly the size of a sword hilt. 

Reindor had tried several times over to break the energy barrier that protected his daughter, failing with every swing. Suddenly, the barrier began to shine brightly, forcing Reindor to shield his eyes as a figure began walking out of the light.  
“Totem powers are shared through bloodlines Aryanna, from parent to child. Your father never knew this concept and if he had then he would have killed us both in the name of power” spoke Matron as Aryanna prepare to face he father again, “My sweet Aryanna, I wish I could have been there to protect you more from the hardships to come but so long as you remain true to your nature, I will always be with you through the totem I now bestow upon you like my mother did for me. Now get out there and remember to give your father hell.” 

Aryanna emerged from the light, dressed in the same attire that her mother was wearing, along with the same red talon tattoo under her right eye and sprouting large silver eagle wings. Her hair became a wild main of silver and black in the shape of an eagle’s head that ran down to her knees. “How is it that you have you mother’s power?!” yelled Reindor, “I was the one who was meant to wield such power; not that weak-minded woman!” Instead of answering his demands; Aryanna simply rose her mother’s totem in front of her face, “A totem’s power is passed from parent to their child, I may despise you for what you have done but I will stay true to my nature and always see the potential for your change” the totem began to glow as a sword of light suddenly grew out the top of it, “But for now I’m going to give you the hell you deserve for taking my mother away from me!” yelled Aryanna as she took to the sky and began attacking Reindor with gusto.

Reindor simply couldn’t keep up with Aryanna’s barrage of attacks, he tried to counter but Aryanna simply flew out of range and began the barrages again. Eventually, the damage began taking its toll on Reindor who fell to his knees in surrender, “What are you waiting for, you said it yourself I killed your mother and deserve the proper punishment” said Reindor in defeat, Aryanna charged at him with all her might; only to stop just before the sword went between Reindor’s eyes. “You may have killed her, but I will not grant you such an easy way out of that” Aryanna took the sword away from her father’s face and her attire shimmered and was replaced by the attire she was original wearing, although now she had the red talon tattoo under her right eye. “She loved you straight to the very end, through all the quests for power she never gave up on the proud man she fell in love with. And I am willing to do the same, I know that you can be that man again; one she loved and the one I’d be proud to say was my father” As Aryanna spoke these words, the ruins around them began to fade as Rosetta descended into the arena.  
“You have shown great Serenity in sparing your father’s life and giving him another chance. You have passed the Trials of Vespia” spoke Rosetta as she handed Aryanna the Orb, “This is the Orb of Temptation, it will allow you to fully unlock my form as well as properly incorporate my power” explained Rosetta as she reverted back to what she looked like without the orb. Aryanna accepted the orb and was about to leave with her father in tow when she realised that he had vanished completely. With nothing left for her here; Aryanna left the cave, knowing that she would see her father again in the future and would fulfil her mother’s promise; she was going to give him hell.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well that's two down and only four more to go! Wonder how their fights are gonna end up with? Guess you'll have to wait and see ;)


	12. Trials of Compassion and Reliability

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tarlak and Blitz find themselves testing what they believe in their Trials as old faces come back to open old wounds on them both. Can they power on through or be lost down memory lane?

Tarlak simply couldn’t believe it; here he was ready to face against this opponent for the rights to the Titan weapon however, he never would have expected his opponent to be him of all people. “What’s the matter Kukaan you look like you’ve seen a ghost” mocked the man as he fully removed the head gear that Tarlak had slashed open. This man was just shy of Tarlak’s height with green skin and his left eye was red; a Martian. There was a scar running across the bridge of his nose and where is right eye was supposed to be was in fact a wall of pink muscle. The black hair was a wild mess due to being under the disguise for so long but there was no mistaking it; the person in front of him truly was his elder brother. The person in front of him was the true Tarlak.

The ninja person was fast, Blitz would give him that, but the ninja’s small scimitar had little effect on Blitz’s bulky frame. This left them at a painful stalemate as while one had a tough hide, the other was too fast to land a hit on which infuriated Blitz as he couldn’t create a sound stratagem that would ensure his victory over this ninja. “Quite the stalemate we’ve got going for us” said Blitz after several more minutes of defence and missed targets, though the ninja said nothing Blitz knew that they were thinking the exact same thing as he lowered his small scimitar. Blitz thought that this was a sign for surrender but it was far from it as the ninja drew the much larger scimitar before disappearing in a flash. Next thing Blitz knew, the ninja was using the large scimitar to actually cut through his dense armour forcing Blitz to fall back a few paces from the sudden pain he was experiencing.  
“Can’t let him get me with that sword of his” thought Blitz as he once again tried to land a hit on the ninja, with little success and growing damage to the armour. Eventually the ninja was able to slice completely through Blitz’s arm cannon at the elbow before ducking under Blitz’s attempt to swing his arm and land a critical slice to the back of his legs, forcing Blitz to tumble over onto his back. Seeing no other option, Blitz made a desperate last attempt and fired a shot from his wrist mount to one of the electrically charged pillars, setting off a massive burst of electrical energy that knocked both him and the ninja across the floor.

“How can you be standing there? I thought you lost brother” said Tarlak as his brother stood there was a rather sadistic smile on his face, “You mean after you sent me to an early grave to save your own scaly skin Kukaan? Not only did you kill me, you also have the gal to parade around using my name as your flag” said ‘Tarlak’ with nothing but hatred in his eye as he looked at his younger brother, “You couldn’t even face the family after what you had done so you ran from the colonies to hid from the justice that you are owed. Well judgement has finally caught up with you Kukaan” and with that, ‘Tarlak’ charged ‘Kukaan’ aiming to take his head clean off. ‘Tarlak’ flew past ‘Kukaan’ expecting to turn and see a headless body with the head still spinning in the air; only to see ‘Kukaan’ just standing there, head still attached and not moving. “What the…?” it was then that ‘Tarlak’ heard the crumbling of the small scimitar in his hand that was meant to cleave the head of ‘Kukaan’ clean off.  
“Never call me Kukaan again” said Tarlak with such a surprisingly chilled tone, “As far as everyone is concerned, that failure died alongside his brother that day. You may not agree with it but I use your name as a means of honour and repentance for the sins I caused the colony” at this Tarlak slowly began to turn to face his opponent, his throat was cut but the blood had been stopped due to the cut being frozen over as cold mist rolled off of Tarlak. “You may wear his face. You may taunt me with his voice and twisted memory. But if there is one thing I will not tolerate of an imposter like you. It is the gal to lecture me on dishonouring someone as well received and well-loved as Tarlak was!” Icicles suddenly began to shoot up around Tarlak as he encased himself in a thick crystal of ice, preventing the imposter form getting close to him.

The electrical surge had not only sent Blitz flying across the floor, but was now playing havoc on his systems as he tried to move his legs but found them unresponsive. Blitz was about to start dragging what was left of his body towards the entrance of the cave he had entered when he started hearing a strange whispering inside his head that kept chanting ‘the anvil can save you’ over and over again. Deciding that it couldn’t hurt anymore to try, Blitz circled round and began dragging himself towards the anvil while hoping the ninja wouldn’t suddenly attack him while he was in such a pitiful state.  
“Why do you keep prolonging the inevitable?” asked the ninja who suddenly appeared behind Blitz with a few singe marks on his person and was missing the goggle that covered his eyes, showing brown eyes that were very similar to Blitz’s eyes. “You’ve been at death’s door ever since the Cyberiad Incident to almost cost your Father’s life. Why add more years on when you can just end it here and now?” asked the ninja again but Blitz was too busy dragging himself towards the anvil. When he made it to the steps, the ninja walked round and stood in front of him, forcing Blitz to stare up at him. “If you are so knowledgeable about my past and why I look like this then please enlighten me to as to why” said Blitz which lead to the ninja taking the head piece off, “I should have known this was how you knew” said Blitz as he finally realised who he was facing. The ninja turned out to be Blake; who Blitz use to be before the Cyberiad attack that made him become a cyborg. “The treatment that your father put you through did halt the progression of the Energon Virus but that was only a temporary solution wasn’t it” said Blake as he knelt down to look at his cyborg counterpart, “that’s what got father killed wasn’t it? He was trying to find a more permanent solution when he was killed by the very same thing that is now killing you; how poetic” explained Blake as he cocked his head to the side, “So, I’ll ask again. Why fight the inevitable?”  
This time Blitz looked at Blake dead in the eye and gave him his answer, “Because I’ll be damned if I don’t finish what Dad had started. He never gave up on me; even when he was forced to make me into a hulking cyborg monster he never stopped loving me and helping those in need. I’m his son so it’s up to me to make sure his legacy reaches its fullest potential; where the conflict is over and everyone is at peace. It’s like what he always used to say whenever I asked him why; If you can’t use what you have to make a better place then what is the point of having it in the first place?” said Blitz as he started dragging himself past Blake and towards the anvil with some difficulty, “I have the chance to make a real difference here, to use everything that I have to end this conflict and I’ll be damned if I let it go to waste” Blake said nothing as he watched Blitz attempt to get up the stairs before he let out a sigh.  
Blake then walked up to where Blitz had made it on the steps, bent down and lifted Blitz to his feet before helping him to the anvil. “What made you want to help me?” asked Blitz as Blake turned his head to him and simply smiled, “I’m doing just as you said; I’m using my power to help those who need it because what would be the point if I didn’t” replied Blake as they made it to the anvil. “To receive the anvil’s power, all you have to do is grab a hold of the hammer embedded in it” explained Blake as he backed away from Blitz before he slowly began to fade into nothingness. Resting himself on the anvil to attempt and regain some strength, Blitz eventually reached out for the hammer, where small sparks escaped it and touched his outstretched fingers. As he clasped his single hand round it, a sudden burst of energy shot through Blitz as his armour was blown completely away.

The large crystal shattered as a something leapt out of the crystal. A white creature made of ice stood tall on its hind legs with its tail slowly whipping around behind it and several blue chunks of ice embedded in various parts of its body. The eyes were completely yellow and appeared to be glowing as they stared at the imposter, the creature made what appeared to be a face of rage.  
“I see you have revealed your true form Kukaan. Must say it suits you” said the imposter with a smug arrogance which sent the Kukaan over the edge as it burst forward and began relentlessly dealing out blow after blow with no sign of stopping. Though the imposter was fast, he was starting to slow due to exhaustion and that lead to the Kukaan gaining the upper hand as it kicked him high into the air before leaping up and smashing him back into the ground, creating a small crater which only widen in size due to the Kukaan landing on him. Completely defeated from the brutal one-sided brawl, the imposter lay unmoving in the crater until the Kukaan warped its massive hand round his neck, lifted him up to see eye to eye and squeezed. “Go on then Kukaan, kill me. Kill me and prove once and for all that you are nothing but a monster” croaked ‘Tarlak’ as the Kukaan was seriously tempted to go through with it but stopped it. Instead the Kukaan brought the imposter within an inch of its face and growled, “I will never be that which people believe me to be. I may use Tarlak’s name but I do so to make sure he is granted the honour that was denied to him that night. I strive to be whatever it was that he saw in me and that was not a simple beast that kills” the Kukaan then threw the imposter to the side as cracks started forming across its body before crumbling into pieces of ice; leaving Tarlak standing amidst the chunks of ice, breathing heavily.  
As Tarlak left the imposter to rot in the crater, the large mace began to shake inside its encased it before it shattered, freeing the double-sided mace which spun straight for Tarlak who grabbed the weapon with skill. “You have shown great Compassion in sparing the one who would have you break your vow of honour. You have passed the Trials of Tundra” boomed a voice that echoed throughout the cave. Suddenly, the ice in front of Tarlak began to crack as something underneath it shot up through the ground. What emerged was a giant that was covered in black armour and had a fur cape that was draped over its shoulder, held in place by the icicles on the giant’s back. The giant’s face mostly hidden under a helmet with bull horns with what was visible completely black, save for the ice blue orbs that were meant to be eyes that loomed down at Tarlak. “I am the Titan King known as Ymir and have granted you the privilege of wielding my mighty weapon into battle” boomed Ymir, “Let us return now to whence you came little one so our bountiful journey together may begin” 

He should be dead from that. Blitz was certain that he felt himself being ripped from his armour, making him as good as dead. And yet here he was; floating in some strange purple void. Blitz was about to think he was alone in this seemingly endless void when something zipped past the corner of his eye. Blitz tried to turn about to see what was zipping around him when he suddenly felt himself falling fast before stopping just shy of what appeared to be a giant throne.  
Upon the throne sat a rather large person who was draped in a plain dirt yellow kimono with parts of samurai armour littering his body. The attire wasn’t the strangest thing about this person, this person had the face of a monkey; long ears, pointed teeth and everything and even that wasn’t the weirdest. The monkey’s hair and beard were completely made up of what appeared to be electricity.  
“So, you are the one that has taken my trial and has managed to touch my hammer” spoke the monkey as it descended down the stairs to stop in front of Blitz, who was actually about the same height as the monkey who was now stroking his beard, deep in thought.  
“While it is true that you show great commitment to your Father’s ideology, thus make you a very Reliable person and passing the Trial of Fara” spoke the Monkey, “I must consult with the anvil’s spirit into seeing about helping you with your current condition” with a snap of his fingers that created a thunderous boom, a fox made entirely of energy appeared next to the monkey and Blitz realised that this fox is what he saw in the corner of his eye. “Polaris is the spirit of the anvil that binds my hammer. Over the years, she has made many powerful pieces of armour that have gone on to do incredible feats” spoke the monkey, “Raijin here is being very modest which doesn’t happen often I might add but what he says is true, I can create you a more powerful armour than the one you currently are bound to” explained Polaris as she gestured Blitz to follow her.  
She led Blitz up a hill where a large case was waiting for them at the top. “We anticipated your arrival when we believed you to be the one and created this armour for such an occasion” explained Polaris, inviting Blitz to try on the armour. The armour was the perfect blend of heavy armoured plating for defence and lightweight material for mobility, upon trying the suit on Blitz felt a tingling sensation, “Don’t be alarmed, that’s just the suit’s nanobots bonding with your bodies genetic makeup. They’ll eradicate any hostilities already in your system” explained Polaris as the tingling continued for a few minutes before ceasing. “The parts of you what were completely robotic such as your legs and left arm will remain as such when you return but this armour has managed to cure you of your ailment thus reducing your robotic components” explained Polaris as Blitz removed his helmet, his facial robotics had remained although they were ow considerably smaller with only his left eye remaining robotic. As Blitz continued to remove parts of the armour to inspect the change, he spotted the tell-tale crisscross pattern that came with nanobots being implanted into one’s body. “Not only are you now bonded with my husband Raijin in the hammer but you are also now bound to myself as well” said Polaris as Blitz continued to marvel as little robotic he had now, “Please tell me I’m not going to have to lug that anvil about everywhere?” asked Blitz which made Polaris simply laugh at his plighted look, “Don’t be so stupid boy. Of course not, I’m not bound to the anvil like my husband is to his hammer. I can take whatever form is deemed necessary at the time and grant magnetic abilities as a bonus” explained Polaris, still laughing at Blitz’s face of sudden realisation.  
“Now that you have been given the armour we had prepared for you. It is time for you to return to the others and show the world the powers that you have gained on this day” said Raijin as he appeared next to his wife before dispelling Blitz from his realm and back into the cave.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Phew these Trials are more taxing on me that it is the ones actaully taking them! Two chapters in one day and we're almost finished with only Amir and Azrael to go!


	13. Trials of Loyalty and Resiliance

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The last of trials are upon us. With Amir and Azrael facing old faces and painful truths, how will this affect them in this conclusion to the Trial Saga?

“What is all this?” spoke Azrael as he stood opposite his until recently deceased brother, Magnus. The Draak cave was different than the other trial caves; two pits of fire ran either side of the arena, left blue and the right black. The flames stopped at two giant stone statues of ancient warriors, staring down at the two swords embedded in the stone that were illuminated by the beam of light coming through the ceiling. Having read all about the trails in his childhood at the temple; Azrael knew that the trail guardians; strange ninja that could take the form of anyone the initiate had conflictions with or deeply admired. However, no matter how much preparation one takes for these trials; the pain of facing someone like that is still great. “I’m here to tell you what truly occurred the night of your birth. The truth the even Rassilon himself dare not believe” said Magnus as he descended the steps that led to the swords,  
“For who could truly believe that their grandson was the embodiment of the Draak King”

There was something scarily familiar about how this ninja moved and attacked, Amir thought, she felt as if she should know this person just from fighting with them. As they clashed, Amir began having little snippets of memory flash before her eyes; a temple made of white, a boy just taller than her with blond hair draped in grey robes sparring with her, a kiss.  
“You him, aren’t you?” asked Amir is sudden realisation to as to who she was fighting. The ninja suddenly stopped in their assault before reaching up and removing the head gear, revealing dirt blond hair, red eyes and an x-shaped scar on his left cheek. Shocked by this reveal; Amir, with tearful eyes, could only chock up one question, “Luka?”

“What do you mean I’m the embodiment of the Draak King? Last I checked I was still Azrael Sigma” said Azrael with a confused tone, he was honestly caught off guard by the statement and was about to call on Magnus’ bluff when he continued with the story, “On the night of your birth, in this very temple, purist cults attempted to take your life and those who would try to sully the Gallifreyan blood. What you don’t know however, is that this assault was carried out by a single man; The Forbidden One” the mention of the Forbidden One sent Azrael into a slightly cold sweat, as the Forbidden One was Gallifrey’s very own bogyman.  
“He broke into the tower, killed your parents with ease and was advancing onto your crib when the Draak Knights Muramasa and Pendragon appeared to defend you from the Forbidden One” Magnus raised his hands towards the statues at either ends of the room; The Draak Knights. “While the Knights fought off the Forbidden One; the Draak King took it upon himself to ensure the safety of this new-born; and bonded with you. This resulted in a massive energy surge that most believe to be the cause of death for your parents, but in reality, it was the excess energy of the Draak King leaving your body which formed a weaker form of the King. The form that the King took became known as your partner; Imperious” finished Magnus as he looked upon Azrael’s stunned face.  
Azrael simply could not believe that he had been partnered with the Draak King all his life; he always believed that he and Imperious shared a bond that few other Gallifreyans had with their Titans but to find out they both made up the Draak King was simply mind blowing. After a couple of minutes coming to grips with the sudden burst of truth relating to his birth, Azrael looked up at Magnus and asked him the question that had been burning inside him since he arrived, “How do I re-connect with Imperious?”  
Magnus was taken aback by Azrael’s quick acceptance of what he was and to focus on something else so quickly, “Are you not mad that Rassilon never told you the whole truth?” pondered Magnus to which Azrael simply shrugged his shoulders, “To be honest; I kind of figured that grandfather was keeping secrets, I mean he has been President for Millennia so he’s bound to have loads, so I trusted in him as he would in me that when the time came; he would tell me everything” rationalised Azrael. A smile slowly broke across Magnus’ face from the answer the Azrael gave him and Azrael wasn’t sure if that was a good sign or a bad.  
“There was a way for you to rekindle your bond with the other half of the Draak King; you had to pass the Trial of Draak. With the answer, you have given me about the truth on your birth; you have shown great Loyalty for your Grandfather and thus have passed the Trial of Draak. You may now step up and claim Pendragon and Muramasa who will allow you to reclaim you dwindling bond with Imperious” as Magus started to shimmer and fade from view, he gave Azrael one final smile before saying, “I will always be proud of you Little Salamander”

Despite being born into a high priestess position; Amir was never felt right exuberating her authority on those less worthy than her, she saw them all as children of the moon and believed all should be loved for it equally. These beliefs put her at odds with most of the other high priests and priestess’ who worshipped the moon for their own gain, the only exceptions were her mother and a young ward named Luka. Luka was the same age as Amir and ended up becoming her first friend due to her beliefs putting off anyone to whom she spoke with. Amir was also known for having a distinct lack of a filter and normal spoke while other thought, Luka would always laugh when Amir didn’t listen to the voice in her head. As time went on, Amir and Luka’s relationship started evolving from the caterpillar that was innocent childhood friends into the butterfly of love. As per their customs, the male would challenge the female to a duel where they would spar under the moon to have their feeling judged by the moon goddess.  
Being a more natural fighter and better connection with the Symbiote; Amir won the duel but still accepted Luka’s proposal as the moon goddess had deemed them worthy. They were happy for the brief time together; until one-day Luka’s Symbiote fell ill from negative emotions, due to their connection these negative emotions began seeping into Luka’s mind and slowly warped it into one of hatred and resentment. This sudden change in behaviour drove a wedge between him and Amir which led him to finally snap and attack the temple. In his rage; Luka had killed several young wards, two priests and several high priestesses until he came face to face with Amir. Despite everything Luka had done to the temple; Amir still could not bring herself to kill the man she had fell in love with, which lead to her mother sacrificing herself to save Amir from Luka’s attack, gravely wounding the man. After the ceremony for her mother and Luka; Amir left the temple knowing that there was no place for her there anymore, through her journey Amir learned of the Defenders Corps. and decided she would go there to create the world she and Luka had envisioned.  
So, when Amir found out that her ninja opponent was her former lover; she almost gave up on her quest to become a Defender and create a better world, but then she remembered that the others were counting on her to complete her Trial and that her mother would be disappointed in that Amir had learned nothing from her self-exile. With this determination now her driving force; Amir retaliated against the oncoming barrage of attacks coming from Luka, deflecting his critical strikes while shrugging off the less serious wounds until she got within striking range of Luka and struck.  
“You will always hold a special place in my heart” said Amir as she landed a critical blow against Luka, “But that time has passed and I need to move on and focus on fulfilling our dream of a better world” tears were flowing freely from Amir’s face as Luka palmed the side of her face and smiled, also with tears in his eyes, before he crumbled into dust.

Azrael stared down at the two swords embedded in the rock in an X formation. The silver sword appeared to be much larger than the black sword that looked more like a wakizashi if anything. Azrael wrapped his hands round the hilts of the swords and, expecting some resistance, drew them out the stone. The swords gave no resistance, in fact Azrael almost toppled over from pulling them out. Upon further inspection; Azrael could see that the larger silver blade had a blue streak that ran the edge of the blade while the wakizashi had a red streak. Both swords also had the Draak symbol etched in the top of the blade just before the hilts. While inspecting the blades, two hands grabbed Azrael by the shoulders, making him jump out of his skin and turn around to see who done that; only to come into contact with Imperious. “Damn well took you long enough to get here” scolded Imperious as he slammed his fist into the top of Azrael’s head, “You know how boring it was watching you be an emotional wreak the entire time? Honestly, I thought you were made of tougher stuff than this” sighed Imperious as he showed Azrael his own version of affection. As Imperious and Azrael had their ‘tender’ moment, the two swords transformed into their respected forms; Pendragon and Muramasa.  
Pendragon’s appearance was the same as the large statue by the black fire; white armour with blue strips that covered his chest, legs and helmet while his left arm was orange and his right was blue. Muramasa’s appearance was the same as the large statue by the blue fire; completely covered in black armour with golden cape and wings. They were both around the same height as Imperious who stood back from Azrael and joined the two Knights in a line. “We are the Knights sworn to protect the Draak King, no matter the cost” spoke the white knight; Pendragon. “We are both your mighty sword, swift and deadly, as well as your impenetrable shield, unmoving and unyielding” spoke the black knight; Muramasa. “I am and always will be your partner Azrael. Even if they try to destroy our connection again like they did last time, I will always find a way to make an epic comeback to save your sorry as” vowed Imperious as he grinned his stupid, toothy grin as Azrael who knew that it was Imperious’ way of saying he would have his back.  
“You have shown great Loyalty to your family and through this you are granted access to the dormant Draak abilities within you as well as bonds between myself and Muramasa” revealed Pendragon as he held out his sword to Azrael who accepted it as Pendragon vanished in a white light. Muramasa also handed Azrael his wakizashi before vanishing in a dark blue light, leaving Azrael with their swords and Imperious as they both left the cave.

After taking her time to compose herself from revisiting old wounds; Amir ascended the stair to the brown earth shield that stood before her. Amir went to pick the shield up; only to find it not moving in the slightest. “You have shown Resilience in your beliefs; you have passed the Terrain Trials” spoke a voice that vibrated across the ground, “However, you lack the spirit and, more importantly, the will to lift my shield into combat. I am sorry but you will not be leaving here with my shield” spoke the voice and before Amir could get a word in to defend her right to take the shield, she was suddenly surrounded in a bright light and suddenly found herself standing back at the start of the mountain pass with the others. “That seems to be all of you here, and in one piece too” spoke Rassilon as he joined the six of them, “I believe congratulations are in order for completing these difficult trails” they all took the praise with pride, however Amir was still confused to as to why she couldn’t lift the shield. Aryanna noticed this and went to comfort her friend, “Hey, just because you didn’t walk away with a fancy ancient weapon does not make you any less than what are already are. You are already a badass with that alien goo, besides the Trials also teach us more about ourselves as well so you know what to improve upon” said Aryanna as she brought Amir in for a hug.  
Rassilon knew that the six of them had gone through a lot of trauma and skeletons in such a small amount of time, so he offered to them another night at the palace before they were sent on their way back to the stress of school work at the academy. 

Following their return to the palace, the Team was taken to a large banquet that was made for their Trial attempts. There were a great many delicacies that had everyone slightly drooling while Tarlak’s mouth became Niagara Falls at the sheer sight of the food. Rassilon knew they were all starving so he simply made a jester with his hand for them to help themselves and oh boy did they devour the pallets. While everyone was stuffing their face; the guys were talking about their fancy abilities they wanted to try out, Azrael was telling Rassilon and Erza about his trial and what he was told while Amir just sat in the corner not really touching her food. Deciding that she could spend her time better than aiding the guy’s ‘pissing contest’, Aryanna noticed Amir was on her own and decided to activate mother hen mode.  
“You’ve been quiet ever since we left the mountain range and barely touched your food, something you want to talk about?” asked Aryanna as she sat next the brooding Amir, “I’m just confused to what the voice in the cave said when I tried to pick that shield up” While heading back, Amir had told Aryanna what had transpired after her fight with the ninja, leaving out who she fought, and how she passed the Trial and yet was unworthy of taking the shield. “Sounds to me that you’ve got some thinking to do” said Aryanna while Amir continued to muse over her food, “I know that you’re use to figuring this stuff out on your own, but we’re a team and we have each other’s back no matter what” with that Aryanna gave Amir a quick smile before heading off to break up the fight the guys had gotten themselves into.

Reindor found himself stumbling through narrow, darkened alleyways whilst trying to void the manhunt that had been ordered by Rassilon and his traitor daughter Aryanna. There had been several instances where he was almost caught but had managed to slip away at the last minute and avoided detection but he knew they were closing in on him, which was why he was this far down in the slummed city miles away from the luxurious comfort he was accustomed to; he was looking for someone. After snooping around several slums and finding no clue to this person’s location, Reindor was about to give up when he was suddenly constricted by something and blindfolded.

When the blindfold was taken off his face, Reindor was greeted by a dark room filled with a few black knights and a large purple looking person, Reindor instantly recognised him as the Ivory Knight. “I heard you were looking for me” spoke the Knight as he knelt down to become eye level with Reindor, “I also see that your position as councillor has been compromised by your lust for power. A move that has made my master most displeased with you, so tell me; how do you wish to die?” spoke the Knight almost sadistically as Reindor began squirming under his gaze. After drawling it out, the Knight stood back laughing at the state Reindor was in from a simple death threat. Purple flames suddenly consumed the Knight as he was replaced by someone much smaller, clad in dark armour and had dark blue skin with grey markings.  
“I must apologise for my partner, he ever so loves watching his playthings squirm like that. Can’t say I blame him” spoke the man, “The master does not wish for your death, he simply invites you to meet with him in person and sent me to fetch you” Reindor was surprised that the master would want to speak to him after his failure to obtain one of the Deity Weapons but his musing was cut short when a door was suddenly slammed open and in watch a figure cloaked in a long black robe. “Anzu are you finished toying with our guest?” questioned the cloaked man to which Anzu simply bowed his head, “My apologies master, I will be more knowledgeable in restraining my Titan in the future” spoke Anzu as he bowed and began to leave the room. Now that it was just the two of them in the room, Reindor began begging and pleading that this cloaked man spare his life but the figure simply laughed at Reindor’s pleas, “What would I gain from killing you, old friend? You have proven time and again your usefulness outside the councillor role and I believe that can continue to do so. Continue to sow seed of chaos and when the time is right I hall contact you again” spoke the figure as he turned to leave Reindor who was being taken away by the mysterious knights.  
“The plans are moving ahead as planned master. All that we need now is for the time to be right for our strike” informed Anzu as he walked with the hooded figure down a corridor which opened out to show a view of the Gallifreyan Palace. “That is good to hear Anzu. Pretty soon, we will turn the tide in this war against the light and it’s so called defenders. All it takes is a little patience.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And with that comes the end of the Trials and everyone is heading back to the Academy. Due to it being non-stop action for the last few chapters; the next two will mostly be fillers while I finished chalking up ideas for the net big thing! Stay tuned for more :P


	14. Halloween Escapades

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After everything that has happened to the gang; you'd think they had earned some rest. But, there isn't any time for rest what with the exam season looming on the horizon and a Halloween Party to plan as well. Will the gang be able to make it through or will they crash and burn from the stress?

October 10th, 2245

Eventually everything made its way back into normalcy once the Team had made it back from their little break on Gallifrey. Naturally they were bombarded with questions from their group the minute they got back, questions like was Gallifrey as beautiful as they had heard, what did they do and other questions like that. Much to Azrael’s dismay; Erza had been enrolled into the Academy as per her and Rassilon’s request to keep an eye on Azrael. To make matter worse, she had gone into full big sister mood and was telling all their friends what Azrael was like as a child.  
“He would pretend that he was this big scary dragon and chase Magnus up and down the corridors. Magnus had to sleep with one eye open so he wouldn’t get caught off guard by the Little Salamander as he liked to call himself” laughed Erza as she recollected the tale that gave Azrael the family nickname, ‘Little Salamander’. Azrael had gone through with Rassilon’s request (it was begging but no one needs to know that) and had taken up the family name of Sigma again, everyone was rather surprised to learn that Azrael was in fact related to the great Lord President; it may not have changed anything in the group, but he was now amassing quite the following that Erza had threatened with multiple body harming techniques, though she wasn’t fairing much better with her fan base that Azrael was threatening to turn to cinders.

Eventually all the threats coming from the Sigma Siblings ceased the fan bases from actively swarming them, however it didn’t stop them from ogling them in the distance and in silence. Classes had started up again while they were away and their class was still as loud and friendly as ever. The three teams made up class 1 with a few extra students to make it to the twenty heads mark, they were all currently in their main room all gossiping about the upcoming Halloween event that the Academy had planned. The uniforms for the academy were black trousers and boots for the guys while the girls got the option to have a black skirt instead, plain white shirt with the Academy sigil stitched into the chest pocket, black tie and the optional black blazer with blue edges that also bore the Academy’s sigil on the pocket.  
“You guys missed quite a week while you were away to Gallifrey” said Dayna as the three teams had done the usual and amassed together to share gossip, “Yea, they had to put classes on hold to locate anymore moles amoungst the students” added Quartz. The group could understand that due to what happened with Kaaba and the Godkiller assault. “Have you guys found a new member to fill the gap yet?” asked Johnson but before Quartz could answer him, the door opened and in walk their lecturer Ms. Minnie.  
“Well I must admit I was just getting use to have a rather small class but it is good to see Team A has come back and are ready to continue with their studies” announced Ms. Minnie in her usual happy yet blunt way, “Now before we begin, the Principle is aware that Team B has been down a member ever since the incident so he and the board have come to an agreement on your new partner” as Ms. Minnie signalled to the door for the person to come in. While the others were interested in who was filling the gap in Team B; Azrael had quietly began thumping his head on the desk, as who should walk in than none other than big sister Erza dressed in the Academy’s uniform. While Erza was introducing herself to the class, Azrael quietly turned to Quartz and whispered, “My condolences” “She can’t be that bad” whispered Quartz back before looking at her one more time, “Can she?” this made Azrael snort a little that went unheard by Ms. Minnie and Erza but the other heard it and gave Azrael questioning looks about the noise. “You have no idea” was all he said before Erza had finished her little speech and was now heading towards them for a seat, “Hope that snort didn’t come from anything bad” said Erza as she took the seat between Aryanna and Azrael in the middle of the big group, “Just telling Quartz what you’re like when put in a group fearless leader” snickered Azrael which got a sharp glare from Erza. “I’ll have you know that I make an excellent leader” retorted Erza as she swished her hair in her brother’s direction, “That’s because everyone in your team feared what you and Barenziah would do to them if they lifted a finger one inch out of line” deadpanned Azrael which had the rest of Team A laughing as they had seen Erza in command while on Gallifrey and could confirm.  
“Alright class, now before we begin today’s topics there is another matter that I would like to bring to your attention” spoke Ms. Minnie, effectively gaining everyone’s attention before continuing with the announcement, “As you are all probably aware; Halloween is quickly approaching and as such the Academy will be hosting a party for the students. Now while Halloween is at the other end of the month, volunteer positions to help design and prepare for the event will become available in the main hall by the end of today should any of you wish to help. That’s all for today’s announcement and so we can begin where we left off yesterday with the History of Defenders”

The rest of the day went by quite quickly in terms of classes; although History of the Defenders was taken by everyone in the gang, not all of them ended up in the same classes for the rest. An example being; while Azrael, Quartz and Blitz (now going by Blake) had Mechanical Studies Arachnid, Aryanna and Aztek were in Advanced Tactics class and Amos, Johnson, Tarlak and Benn had Defence Training. Each of them enjoyed their subjects but all of them had to agree that sparring in the arena afterwards was a perfect way to wind down from a long day.  
While the gang was either training or attempting to study for the upcoming exams; Azrael and Erza were heading off to meet with the Principle. While Azrael was recovering from his stint with the Ivory Knight, Paarthurnax was there when the Corps. was questioning the team that took out the Godkiller and they mentioned that Azrael had gone berserk and attempted to fight the Knight with next to no success. Upon hearing that and confirming it with Erza, Paarthurnax decided it was best time to call for some help with Azrael’s growing Dragónian problem.   
This decision lead to Dagon, a veteran in helping young Dragónians deal with their drákification, being summoned to the Academy to teach Azrael how to better control his drákification ability. They would meet after class every couple of weeks to train, Erza was there to support Azrael as she had dealing with drákification before and Aryanna, being the mother hen that she was, had been informed of the training so wasn’t to be alarmed by Azrael’s cuts and bruises. Today they were once again trying to get Azrael to drákificate like he had done against the Knight but as always, they failed to recreate the circumstances and called it a day, allowing Azrael to join the other in the library to study for the exams.  
“I’ve tried practically everything that I have done with other Dragónians who have been in his shoes but nothing seems to be working” sighed Dagon as the three of them watched Azrael leave for the library, “The circumstances of his release is rather difficult to copy I’ll admit” added in Erza as the other two agreed with her statement while trying to figure out the growing problem.

It was 6pm by the time Azrael finally made it to the main library where the group was studying. The library looked like it was a theatre once upon a time but had simply been stacked full of books; a bookworms’ heaven one might say. Azrael eventually found Aryanna, Amir, Rin, Benn, Emrys and Syrian all around one of the large tables with their books out on various subjects. “Got room for one more?” asked Azrael quietly as he took a spot next to Rin while sitting opposite Benn, “You guys studying for Cryptography?” While Rin was so buried in his book he didn’t hear Azrael’s question, Benn lifted his head from his book and gave him a simply nod while Azrael got his Mechanics notes out of his pack to work on the questions they were given at the end of class to work on. The group remained silent for a good hour with some of them sharing several glances between themselves but never spoke a word until the time came for the library to start closing. They all said goodnight to each other and headed for their dorms.

October 24th, 2245

With exam season looming over the horizon and work starting to pick up due to the time of year; most of the gang were too busy with work to properly meet up for anything to relax after the exams, and Erza was wanting to get to know the group more so she decided to create a small event at the cake shop she worked at.  
“Welcome to Sweet-Tooth, have you got a reservation?” asked the waitress to the gang as they entered Orion’s prestigious cake restaurant, “Yea, Erza had booked us a table for half one” said Aryanna as the waitress checked the list in front of them before leading them further into the restaurant towards a large corner table and left them all to look through the order while leaving to deal with their drinks.  
“I honestly cannot believe how stressful those exams have us” sighed Quartz as the drinks arrived, “I mean we all faced against a Cyberiad horde for Hrothgar’s Sake” added Blake as they all silently agreed that studying for the exams is ten times worse than the Godkiller battle. Once everyone had their drinks, they all ordered various cakes as Erza joined them after her shift ended, “Good to see that everyone could make it” smiled Erza as she took the empty seat next to Aryanna, “How are everyone’s preparations for the Halloween party?” Almost as if they were one entity, the entire table groaned and heads connected with the large table in front of them.  
“Completely forgot about that” moaned Rin and they all started thinking about their plans for the party. “Has anyone actually found partners for the dance?” asked Syrian as some nodded a yes while other simply shrugged, stating that they had yet to find a partner or were planning on going alone.  
“Surly some of you had dates for the dance” said Erza as she was surprised that the amount of people not having partners exceed the amount that had. What surprised her more was that Azrael was one of the shruggers, Erza decided that she would interrogate him about it when they were back at the Academy.   
“Well you’d all better eat up then” said Erza as the cakes arrived, “We’re going to spend today relaxing at the festivities and being friends.” For the rest of the day, the gang spent it all laughing, having fun and not thinking about the looming exams at Orion’s local festivities. Seeing Amos and Aztek have competitions at the shooting gallery to try and win a stuffed toy for Erza, only to have Johnson swoop in and take the animal to present it to her in most ‘romantic’ way possible. Safe to say, Johnson found himself headfirst into a trashcan for that move while Tarlak exclaimed he would dominate the animatronic bull as its superior with everyone laughing when he was sent flying off.  
As evening starting creeping in and curfew started plaguing their minds along with food; the gang settled for one more ride at the festival before getting food. “Let’s go on the roller-coaster” exclaimed Rin as he pointed at the large coaster with childish glee all over his face, “I’d rather go on the Ferris Wheel” replied Syrian which prompted the two arguing back and forth which one they should go on. Eventually Aryanna stepped in with a coin, “Heads for Roller-coaster and tails for Ferris Wheel” she flipped the coin and looked at the two bickerers, “Call it. Heads or tails?” Rin went with heads leaving Syrian with tails. Aryanna lifted her hand to reveal that the coin had landed on tails, meaning the Ferris Wheel was the final ride for the day.  
Erza had been keeping small glances Azrael’s way to see if she could figure out why he had no partner for the dance; she knew he was rather shy around people and his scatter-brained ways could be annoying to some but she had to admit she was happy to see him laughing and getting along with this lot, as a pose to only having Magnus as a friend. Although he got on with most of the group, Amos included, Erza couldn’t help but notice the glances Benn was sending Azrael’s way when Azrael wasn’t looking; making a lightbulb ding inside Erza’s head as she slowed to talk with Aryanna.  
“What’s the story between Azrael and Benn?” asked Erza to Aryanna as they surveyed the group from the rear, “What do you mean?” asked Aryanna confused by Erza’s sudden interest between with the boy’s relationship. Erza simply pointed towards the two and Aryanna saw the looks Benn was giving Azrael when he wasn’t looking and it all became clear.  
“Get those two on a carriage?” Erza asked the rhetorical question that they both already agreed on as they all got closer to the Ferris Wheel. The gang bought their tickets; with Rin and Syrian in one cart, Dayna and Arachnid in another, Tarlak went with Aztek and Quartz, Amos found himself with Amir, Erza and Aryanna made sure that Azrael ended up with Benn while they took the one behind them and the rest decided to stay behind to watch their accumulating stuff. Azrael and Been were at the top of the Wheel when it stopped to let others off at the bottom; with Azrael being his happy self and Benn trying to act cool while hiding his tinted cheeks.  
“You alright there Benn?” asked Azrael as Benn hid his face in his grey scarf, hiding the growing pink tinge on his face, “I’m good man, just a bit chilly is all” replied Benn, which prompted Azrael to pull him in for a warm embrace. They stayed like this for a while, neither daring to look at one another in case of being caught while Erza and Aryanna were full on gushing at the scene in front of them.  
“I can’t believe I never saw this till now” exclaimed Aryanna, disappointed in her matchmaking skills not being on point as per usual. She had been the one who had tricked Rin and Syrian into a date which ended in them going out and had slyly been keeping tabs on the others. Erza had found out about Aryanna’s matchmaking and ad insisted that she help her with anyone else that required a nudge, “a light tap not a threatening sword Erza!” was Aryanna’s response to Erza trying to get Tarlak to confess his feelings which ended in a 3-hour sword fight between the two. Once everyone was off the Ferris Wheel, they began heading back to the Academy; happy that Erza had suggested that they have a day out together as it was sorely needed for them.

October 30th, 2245

The Halloween dance was tonight and while some were panicking like headless chickens and asking people last minute to the dance, Azrael found himself rather relaxed despite not having a partner for the dance. He had been interrogated by his sister about why he didn’t have a partner and how he could be so calm but he simply batted her bemused wonderment aside telling her not to worry about him and focus on herself for once.  
“How can I focus on myself when my little brother is going to be alone on a most important night. I will not stand for this” exclaimed Erza dramatically in class, causing Azrael to groan and the others to laugh sympathetically for him. When Benn walked into the class, Aryanna had to constrain Erza from pouncing on the boy and demanding that he should partner up with Azrael. History came and went as it normally would, the only difference was that Aryanna had noticed the sly notes being passed between Benn and Azrael which took almost every fibre of her being to not scream aloud in matchmaking gushiness. They moved to the library for free period with Aryanna, Erza, Azrael and Benn while Aryanna dragged Amir along with them; stating that she was required as a witness for the good of the group as Aryanna said before charging after the boys. The table was quiet save for Azrael helping Benn with the Mechanic questions and the three girls ‘studying’ for their History test at another table.  
“Don’t you think you guys are taking this matchmaking a little seriously?” questioned Amir as they watched Benn and Azrael help each other with their studies and quietly laughing at the jokes they made, “Not at all” replied Aryanna and Erza at the same time, making Amir sigh in realisation how alike they both were.

While they were being spied on by the two girls and their reluctant accomplice, Azrael was busy explaining to Benn how to best answer the question with Benn nodding and agreeing with the answer while watching closely to get it right next time.“You think they’re going to get bored over there?” asked Benn, pointing to the girls with his eyes, “They’ve been stalking us since the Fare and we know how persistent they are in terms of matchmaking” Azrael replied, shuddering when he remembered what had happened with Rin when he started dating Syria. Rin had expected them to be support for when he asked her out but when he found out it was just the two of them; he panicked and confessed to Syrian. Fortunately, Syrian was in the same boat and it worked out for the two and were very happy.  
Now Azrael was worried that the matchmaking devils, as they were called by Rin and Syrian, were plotting to get him and Benn together which was ludicrous. I mean Azrael did have a small crush on the winged punk mechanic, who wouldn’t, but he was sure that Benn had absolutely zero interest in someone as weird as he was; that was if he even swung that way.   
Meanwhile Benn was internally screaming at himself; he was certain that when he sent those loving gazes Azrael’s way that no one was seeing them and if they did then he would shrug it off like he normally does. But, if those harpies knew about that then they would go to the ends of existence to make them a thing and Benn was certain that Azrael wasn’t into him. I mean yeah, he was a rebel and a mechanic so he was well built and he knew it but due to his troubled past; he felt as if he was too inferior to be in a relationship with the Gallifreyan, which was why he never made a move and stuck to the shadows.   
Of course, it was hard for them both, given they both had similar interest in subjects but where glad they were on different teams as they probably wouldn’t have coped with the awkwardness. The boys continued studying in silence, both trying to find the courage to discreetly ask the other about the Halloween party.  
The silence was interrupted by none other than Johnson and Najrn, they had been trying to get Erza to go with one of them to the party for the past couple of weeks with very little success from either of them. “You wouldn’t have per chance seen your beautiful sister come this way?” asked Najrn to Azrael as he sighed heavily at their attempts to entice his sister. Though their appearance was unwelcomed at first by Benn, he suddenly had a rather dastardly idea that could get rid of both parties.  
“If you are looking for Erza I believe she’s somewhere in here with Aryanna” said Benn as he sent Azrael a wink who caught on to Benn’s plan, “Yeah, think I saw of them they were at that table over there discussing who to ask to the party” said Azrael as he pointed to the girl’s table, now shy one Amir who left long ago. The ladies’ men quickly turned to face the table Azrael pointed at to see Erza and Aryanna scrambling to get away from them as quickly as humanly possible. Once they were finished splitting their sides at the comedic scene that ended with the four being kicked out of the library, Benn turned to face Azrael with tears in their eyes, “Speaking of partners to the party. You would happen to be free?” asked Benn, hoping that this confidence boost would last before he changed his mind. Azrael looked at Benn with surprise written across his face before he broke into one of the biggest grins Benn had ever seen, “Are you asking me out on a date Mr. Benedict?” asked Azrael as Benn laughed nervously while rubbed the back of his head, “I guess I am. Is that a yes?”  
To answer Benn’s question; Azrael quickly leaned in and gave him a peak on the cheek which left Benn stunned, “It’s a date then”

Erza was disappointed in herself for being so careless. By the time she and Aryanna had lost the vultures, they doubled back to the library to continue their spying, only to find Benn and Azrael had left the library. They had spent the rest of their free time trying find them; they weren’t at the arena sparring and they weren’t in the canteen so when the time to get ready for the party came ever closer, they eventually gave up and went to get ready. 

Everyone had really outdone themselves preparing the canteen for tonight’s party. All the tables had been shunted to the edges to give way to as much dance floor as possible. Fog machines were being used to give the place an eerie sensation while cotton webs were draped all over the place. The tables that were lined against the floor to ceiling windows were completely covered in little nibbles for everyone to enjoy and the occasional bowl of punch as well.   
People eventually started pouring into the canteen; Erza had gone with a black dress with webbed ends and a pointed hat while Aryanna was wearing a red dress and devil horns. People like Rin, Aztek, Tarlak and Benn didn’t really need to put much effort into their attire; Tarlak had added some fake fins to appear as the missing link while Aztek simply wore his War Tribe tunic. Rin and Benn decided to keep their simple and went with cheap suits, although they had their respective ‘bits’ on display. Blake had gone as Frankenstein’s Monster, complete with bolts running through his neck while Johnson went as a werewolf.  
“Where’s Azrael and Amir?” asked Aryanna, wanting to see everyone in their costumes and kinda hoping for a picture. That was when she saw Amir walk in dressed as a zombie bride, ripped wedding dress and everything and behind her was Azrael. Azrael has gone with a black suit that had a white skeleton stitched into it, complete with top hat, skull mask and tie. The two quickly spotted the others and joined them to get a picture taken before they all ran off to their places; Tarlak and Aztek went for the food, Rin and Syrian went for a dance while Johnson and Najrn tried to get a dance out of Erza and Aryanna. While they were busy with that, Benn quietly snuck his hand into Azrael’s as he dragged him off into the dance floor.  
“Must say. You clean up pretty nice for a skeleton” commented Benn as they danced, “Not too bad yourself Cupid” replied Azrael as they enjoyed the dancing and each other’s company. After the dance, the two returned to see the gang watching them with knowing smiles on their faces. “I believe I speak for everyone,” said Aztek while Erza began crying into Aryanna’s shoulder; murmuring about how her baby brother was growing so fast “That it was about damn time you two became a thing. Seriously you could cut the tension between you two with a knife and there’d still be tons of it” This caused everyone to laugh at the sheepish look on Azrael’s face while Benn opted to simply pout.  
“Alright then who was it for the dance then. Come on up and claim your money” called Johnson, causing a few to start grumbling that they had missed their chance while Erza simply gawked at the ‘bet’.   
The rest of the night was spent amazingly; Tarlak had managed to find the karaoke and began singing away much to everyone amusement and cost of hearing for a while. Tarlak was joined by Aztek who made it worse and were both booed off the stage which had the gang in stitches as Amir had managed to record the whole ordeal to use as blackmail later. Johnson and Amos started having a drinking competition which ended in Amos winning and still drinking long after Johnson had passed out, more blackmail for Amir. Eventually the time came for the slow dance, and as Azrael looked around, he saw Rin with Syrian, Dayna showing Quartz how to not step on her toes, Erza and Aryanna to protect one another from Johnson and Najrn with the rest looking for the side-lines or helping incapacitated friends.  
“I’m glad you agreed to this” said Benn as they continued with the slow dance, “Would have hated to have wasted more time worrying what could have gone wrong” Azrael smiled at this before replying, “Then who knows how large that bet of theirs would have turned into” this gain a snort from Benn as he silently agreed with Azrael about the ridiculous bet before continuing with the slow dance.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A nice break from the non-stop action that has been going on the last few chapters. This is one of two filler before the next big arc that I hope will make you wish for more. Also got some romance on the go as characters get some limelight too.


	15. Tis the Season to be Stressful

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Exam season had fallen upon the Academy and stress levels could not be any higher. Add in the sneaky bunch curious about Azrael's secret training and you've got a recipe for complete anarchy but of course, what Christmas isn't complete without family drama.

November 15th, 2245

With the exams just weeks away, it was safe to assume that the stress levels were at unbearable levels for the gang. For one thing, Benn and Rin were at each other’s throats more than normal which wasn’t helping matters with the exams. During their latest brawl in the canteen, they managed to knock Tarlak’s coffee all over Aryanna’s Tactics book which had everyone under the table as Aryanna unleashed her wrath that had been building from studying. “Get back here you little shits! I've got a rusty spoon with your names on it!” was all Aryanna was screeching as she chased Benn and Rin around the canteen, ready to wrangle their necks. Normally everyone would be laughing at their misfortune but today they weren’t paying it any piece of mind. Thankfully classes had been postponed, which was the reason that everyone was still in their pyjamas eating their breakfast and studying next week’s exams.   
“You heard about these sighting?” asked Azrael, “Third sighting of mysterious black knights in the past month has lead the Defender Corps. to suspect these are some who connected and are currently investigating” read Azrael aloud as everyone gathered round to hear the latest in the Knight’s Investigation. While the gang were talking about the investigation, Azrael realised what time it was, “Sorry guys but I’ve got something that I need to get to” apologised Azrael as he got up to leave. The only people who knew about the sessions with Dagon were the principle, Erza and Aryanna so the others were mightily curious about Azrael’s ‘sessions’.

After breakfast, some of the gang met up in the main hall to devise a plan to uncover the secret behind Azrael’s sessions, “Alright then. We about ready to find out just what these sessions are?” asked Rin to the assembled group of himself, Benn, Johnson, Blake, Quartz and Aztek who all agreed. While getting ready, Aztek had spotted Azrael heading for the main arena which was where the little posy found themselves going. Sneaking into the stands, the little band of misfits found the perfect spot that revealed the entire arena to them.   
Upon the arena stood Azrael barefoot in grey sweats and a simple blue t-shirt while facing off against a horned blond-haired guy wearing a grey hoodie, black jacket on top of it and torn blue jeans and grey sneakers. Blondie appeared to be some sort of mage, given that when he waved his left hand to the side; three knights, the same from the initiation, appeared and charged Azrael. As the knights charged Azrael, he weaved his way through them, dodging their attacks before jumping at one of their shield to boost himself into the air. Taking in a deep breath; Azrael shot out blue fire from his mouth, like a dragon, and singed two of the knights to ashes.  
“You’ve got your Dragon Breath under control which is a good sign” spoke the blonde guy, “However, you’re still a long way from achieving what we are aiming for” He then summoned another three knights to attack Azrael again. This went on for about another hour until one of the knights managed to land a serious hit on Azrael, causing Benn to loss his cool and storm the arena to help his boyfriend. Benn was able to strike one of the assaulting knight with an energy blast but this was at the cost of protecting himself from the other knight, which Azrael saw and it made him snap.  
Exactly like on the Godkiller, Azrael’s black scales began growing up his arm and the sides of his face before resting in an arrow shape, facing down his face and his blue hair was once again a wild mane of blue fire. Before the Knight could land another hit on the downed Benn, Azrael stepped in between them and shattered the sword against his scaled arm before savagely assaulting the two remaining knights. All Benn and the others could do was lay there in stunned silence as Azrael tore into the knights like a wild animal. Once Azrael was finished with them, he turned and began advancing on Benn with an animalistic gleam in his eyes while Benn had a look of terror on his face along with the others who had left their cover to help their friends. “Azrael!” yelled Erza, this managed to knock some sense into him as he took in the looks of everyone present which forced him to take a couple of steps back, clutching at his head before leaping into the stands and running off.

“Do you have any idea how stupid this little plan of yours was?!” scolded Erza to the small group of boys in front of her. She had been watching from afar with Paarthurnax when Benn and the others had intervened and made Azrael access his drákification. Paarthurnax and Dagon had left scolding the group to Erza as they helped with the search for Azrael who was still to be found. “Look we’re all very sorry about sticking our noses in where we shouldn’t, but Azrael is our friend and we had a right to know. We could have helped!” exclaimed Rin which most of the group agreed on, Benn was still spaced out, causing Erza to sigh heavily and pinch the bridge of her nose.  
“I know you all meant well but we’ve been trying to help Azrael with this problem ever since we got back from Gallifrey. And before you say that you should have been told, it was Azrael’s decision on who was told. He didn’t want people to worry about him anymore than they had to. Especially after the Cyberiad Assault” explained Erza in a calmer manner, which helped to slowly defuse the situation and calm everyone down, “Now we’re going to go and find Azrael and make sure he hasn’t done anything seriously stupid alright?”  
They all agreed to help search for Azrael, splitting into groups of two to cover more of the Academy’s ground. Erza had decided that it would be best if she went with Benn as they were the closest to Azrael and would fare a better chance of calming him down if they found him. Benn and Erza searched in silence, neither one having the courage to speak to the other.  
“I really screwed up, didn’t I?” asked Benn, finally breaking the silence as they search behind the Academy. This spot was one of Azrael favourites, Benn remembered, it was where he would come to think when he was stressed about work or studies. Erza turned to face Benn and saw that he had a major regretful look on his face, so she done the only thing she knew would work; she hugged him. “Seeing someone drákify for the first time is always terrifying if you don’t know what to expect. Azrael isn’t used to using his Dragónian abilities which is why he’s been training himself, so that he won’t be seen as a monster that need to be put down. I guess something like this would happen sooner or later” said Erza as he hugged Benn tight. They stayed like this for a while until Benn had collected enough of himself to keep going with the search, “From what I’ve been told by Paarthurnax and the others. You know what it’s like to be viewed as a monster so maybe when Azrael saw that look on your face. It made him feel like he was the true monster” explained Erza as the edge started coming into view with a large, elder tree standing proud; and Azrael sitting against it.

They decided a situation like this would be best handled by Benn with Erza staying a few paces behind; out of sight but able to help in a moment’s notice. As Benn walked closer to where Azrael was sitting against the tree, he noticed the scorch marks on the grass and the claw marks littering the large tree. Taking a leap of faith so to speak, Benn cleared his throat which made Azrael jump out of his brooding suddenly aware that someone had found him before shying away from Benn with guilt. “I knew I’d find you here” said Benn as he took his spot next to Azrael who still wouldn’t look at him, “This is your go to place when something or someone is on your mind. Must admit the view is absolutely stunning from here” marvel Benn as they fell into another silence.  
“I really hate that you saw me like that” said Azrael quietly as he hugged his knees to his chest tighter, “Ever since I faced the Ivory Knight on the Godkiller, I’ve been trying to get this curse under control but every time I come close, I’m remembered by the horrified faces that everyone had when I first unleashed it” Azrael buried his head into his knees so Benn couldn’t see him let a few tears loose. “I don’t think you’re a monster Az” said Benn as he put his arm over Azrael’s shoulders, prompting Azrael to raise his head to stare at Benn, “How would you know if I’m not?” he asked which prompted Benn to point to his facial markings.  
“The one who gave me these markings was a real monster. He didn’t care a single bit about anything other than himself and his ‘righteous crusade’ to cull the weak. Of course, I was younger and more stupid then so I ended up joining his merry band, cost me my original wings and almost got myself killed but I was saved by the Defenders who gave me a shot here at a second chance” explained Benn as Azrael listened intently as he had never heard Benn talk about his past on Geno-Shia. He knew that Benn had been involved with the Marauders, a gang on Genoshians who believed they were superior above the others, but he never knew the full extent of what happened during his time with them.  
“Last I checked, you were trying to get this ‘curse’ under wraps to protect our gang from those like the Marauder Leader, the Ivory Knight and anyone else that would choose to help the darkness. The last I checked, that didn’t make you a monster; it made you a good man” said Benn as he leaned in and kissed Azrael before pressing their foreheads together, “Maybe if you hadn’t tried doing this alone, you would have better control over it by now” “What like you were ever one to ask for outside help” laughed Azrael which caused Benn to snort at the point Azrael had made.

Benn and Azrael decided to stay under the tree for a little while longer, leaving Erza to assume that she was no longer needed to play the mother hawk. As she turned to leave, she was met with the faces of the entire gang; with Syrian, Aryanna and even Tarlak tearing up from what they had hear being discussed by the two under the tree.  
“Let’s give them some room, I imagine they’ll be heading back to the arena so why don’t we go on ahead of them and wait there” suggested Erza as she and everyone else tried to uproot the sappy sobbers from their spots.  
“Alright then, you ready to head back to the arena and nail this pesky problem you’ve been having?” asked Benn as he stood up and gave Azrael a hand getting up, “Yeah. What you’ve said has made sense to me and I think I’m ready to get this over and done with” said Azrael as they made their way back to the arena. As they entered the arena, Azrael spotted the gang were taking up seats near the principle with Dagon at his position at the far end with three knights already out and ready.  
“Don’t worry, you’ve got this” said Benn as he gave Azrael a quick peck on the cheek before flying up to join the others. Taking in a deep breath; Azrael stepped onto the platform that took him onto the arena before detaching from it, leaving him on the arena with Dagon and his knights. Dagon was about to ask if Azrael wanted to go with this after what had happened, but when he saw the fire in the young hybrid’s eyes he decided not to ask the question and signalled the knights to charge.

While Azrael was busy sparring against the knights, Benn and Erza gave the other a rundown of why Azrael was in a fight with a blondie and why he ran when they found out.  
“So, let me get this straight. Azrael is trying to get his Dragon powers under control and to do that the principle called in this guy in who has had dealing with this kind of thing before” stated Johnson as he tried getting his head round all this, “And he felt it best to not tell everyone because he didn’t want us worrying about the strain he was going through to make sure something like what happened on the Godkiller never happens again but when Benn got hurt saving him, he cracked and almost annihilated the knights and everyone in here just because he lost his cool” added Aztek, “He does realise that keeping it a secret from us was total nonsense right?”  
This had everyone agreeing with Aztek but Erza simply shook her head, prompting Amir to nudge her to explain, “You guys don’t understand; it’s not that Azrael didn’t trust you with the knowledge, it was simply because you are his friends” with all the confused faces, Erza knew she would have to explain it to them in better detail. Sighing heavily as she didn’t particularly like that part of Azrael’s childhood; partly because she was one of the causes, “Azrael spent the better part of his childhood alone and being shamed upon by the other noble families for being a hybrid. He may have not shown it on the outside to not give them the satisfaction however, on the inside he was suffering and we all knew it. Magnus, our brother, was the only one who actually saw him as a person while the majority saw him as half-breed trash while I, at the time, only saw him as the one who killed my parents” explained Erza as they watched Azrael spar with the knights, he had managed to show signs of his drákification but had not yet managed a transformation, “Due all that happened on Gallifrey, I would assume that he wouldn’t want to lose any friends that he made coming here for a fresh start”

Despite knowing that everyone watching now knew about his training, Azrael was still reluctant to unleash the full power against these knights in case he ever lost control again.   
“You’re holding back again” stated Pendragon. Azrael was still getting use to the fact that he now had three Titans stuck in his head, each giving their own opinion on the matter, “I know that I’m holding back, I’m still reluctant to go all out in case I loss it again” said Azrael mentally to the Titans rather than say it out loud and look like a loon, “You’re not saying much Imperious. Got something to say?” questioned Muramasa, prompting Azrael to realise that he was right; Imperious was unnaturally quiet.  
“You know what I would say on this matter kid. Benn had said that he and your friends are going to stand by you, even if you lose control and go berserk again. They aren’t going anywhere so you have nothing to fear” said Imperious which had the others staring at him with pure shock, “What?” questioned Imperious while the two knights put a hand on his shoulder respectively, “Who knew you had such wisdom buried deep within that thick head of yours” said Muramasa with Pendragon and Azrael snickering at the remark and the look of disbelief on Imperious’ face.  
Knowing that what Imperious said held merit, Azrael decided that holding back was a wasted effort and finally taped into his Dragónian heritage. At first, all Azrael could feel was the fire that was already burning deep within himself; but the moment he let the gates open, he felt himself become almost overwhelmed with the amount of power that coursed through his being. His arm was once again covered in black sales, his horns grew and his hair was set ablaze; he had managed to willingly drákify.

Dagon could not help the smile that broke across his face, almost three months of hard work and hair pulling had finally paid off. Dagon called off the knights, sending them back to wherever it is they came from and stared walking towards Azrael clapping his hands.  
“It is good that you have gained access to drákify” said Dagon as he too began to drákify himself. While his appearance took a similar way to that of Azrael’s, except Dagon was yellow as a pose to blue, there were some extra features to Dagon’s drákification. For one, a pair of black and yellow wings sprouted from his back and a golden tail wrapped around his ankles, “Now let’s see how long you can hold out against someone more challenging” spoke Dagon before he and Azrael continued with their sparring match. The fight between the two lasted about 5 minutes before it was over; this was due to the lack of skill Azrael had controlling his drákification, Paarthurnax was impressed by Azrael’s progress and allowed him to postpone the lessons with Dagon until the school years started up again after the new year.

November 20th, 2245

Five days after the stress of drákification, Azrael and the others felt ready when the time came for their exams. The day finally came for the exams on November 20th, for the next two weeks, they would have to endure severe stress and boredom through these exams before being free to celebrate the festivals with friends and family before helping to prepare for the upcoming annual event.   
The first half of the exams were test set out to challenge the students mentally. For Tacticians; they were given a problem to solve that came with different limitations in play that they had to think about. The Cryptos were given a cypher that they had to crack in a certain amount of time which trying to not give away their location and the Mechanics were set the task of fixing a complex piece of machinery in a certain amount of time. All three had a secret agenda; they were all requiring those willing to pass to work together.  
The second half was dedicated to the Defence Training, the students were put into teams of two and were required to hold their own against active members of the Defender Corps. for roughly 10 minutes. The aim of this would be to see how the students would fair against more challenging opponents and see what they had learned about their powers and limits.  
“Guess we’ll find out who are partners are after the first lot of exams” said Amir as they stared at the screens in the main hall to find out where the tests were being held for first years. When the rooms for the exams were found, the gang split into the necessary groups and headed for the rooms each wishing the other good luck. The rooms were all laid out in the same order that they were normally were, with the exception of the sealed papers on their desks, each of them took their seats and sat facing the front of the room until the instructor told them to unseal the papers and start the exams.

“I honestly never want to see a tactical map for as long as I live” groaned Amir at the little café the gang was currently receding in after the exams were finished for the day. Quartz and Aztek had to agree with Amir, those exams were extremely challenging but they had managed to work in the team they were assigned and were currently waiting for the cryptography exam to finish, which was in less than half an hour away. While Blake and Johnson had joined Quartz, Aztek and Amir at the café, the others had chosen to go back to their dorms to crash for any more exams they had in the coming weeks.  
“I’m just glad to have them out of the way” stated Aztek, despite knowing that this was only the first week and they still had a couple more to do on top of the Defenders Exam. They had checked the listing for the teams but were disappointed to find they hadn’t been posted yet, meaning they wouldn’t find out today but maybe at a later date, either tomorrow or later in the week. Half an hour passed and the café group added in Emrys, Torbjorn and Blake to their ranks while the others were back in their dorms either studying for other exams or doing the smart thing and snoozing the stress off. The group at the café spent some of the afternoon just talking about their exams, what they put for questions and then moved onto stuff like work. “Wonder who they’ll pair us with for the Defenders Exam” pondered Blake as they were now discussing the possible outcome of the second half of the exams, “I’m more concerned about the Defender we’re going to be facing for it” replied Quartz which had everyone there pondering the two important questions; partners and opponents. Eventually the time came for them to leave the café and head back to the dorms to prepare for another stress load of exams. This was going to be a tough couple of weeks. 

November 27th, 2245

“Thank god it’s all over” proclaimed Azrael as he faceplanted into the pillow of his bed. The last week had been absolute hell for them between exams, studying and work, leaving little time for them to actually sit down and take a breather. The students now had a week’s break to rest and prepare themselves for the upcoming Defenders Exam. While some were dreading who they would be facing or paired with, Azrael found himself quite excited about the ordeal; like a kid on Christmas morning.  
“Jocasta announced that the listings for the Defenders Exam are going to be posted by dinner” informed Aztek from his bed where he was currently in one of his meditations. The gang had all agreed to meet up later on today to check out the small village that had been built for the Christmas season in the centre of town. There would be shops selling trinkets and warm food to stale off the cold as well as a couple of rides doted about the place. Since it got dark quicker now that they were into the colder period, the village was decorated with crisscrossing Christmas lights that ran from stall to stall which only added to the magic of the place.  
They all met up at the fountain just outside the entrance to the village, all wrapped up in hats, hats and scarfs unless you were Tarlak who was born in an icy place and therefore could handle it while Johnson was also believing he could brave the cold; and was failing quite miserably much to everyone’s amusement. “Is there a reason Johnson is trying to outlast the iceman?” asked Rin to which Aryanna simply sighed, “He placed a bet that he can last as long as Tarlak in the cold with the same amount of clothes” The gang all headed into the village where they all broke off to see the village while knowing to be back at the fountain in a couple of hours. 

Azrael and Benn wondered the village in awe, they had both never seen such a beautiful sight in their lives. Benn had been too busy on the run with the Marauders to care about Christmas while Azrael hadn’t really celebrated it since his time at the Yggdrasill Temple with Magnus. As they walked hand in hand, munching on a slice of apple pie they had bought, Azrael was telling Benn all the things that they use to do back at the Temple to celebrate the holiday.  
“Magnus use to go out and find the biggest tree he could carry and take it back to the temple where he and I would decorate it in secret. I remember the first year we were doing it and I discovered I could breathe fire, I set the whole tree on fire with a simple hiccup” laughed Azrael as he retold the story, “I laughed and was clapping my hands while Magnus was running around frantically trying to put it out before I burned the whole Temple to the ground” this had Benn laughing as he pictured a little Azrael happily clapping his hands and laughing while everything burned around him; a true arsonist one would say.  
The rest of their date was spent playing some of the games (and by playing it was Benn winning almost all of the games and the ones he didn’t were considered rigged) and enjoying the food and each other’s company. Happily content with the warm food they had munched on and all the prizes tucked under their free arms, the two made their way back to the fountain where Erza, Aryanna, Tarlak, Amir, Quartz, Dayna and Johnson were waiting. Somewhere down the line, Johnson had given up on his bet against Tarlak and was now wrapped snuggly in his winter wear that Aryanna had brought along with a I told you so speech.  
“You two look like you had fun” commented Erza as Azrael and Benn joined them at the fountain, “We did. Won a couple of thigs and managed to at least start on the Christmas shopping. I was also telling Benn what Christmas was like back at the temple” said Azrael with a massive grin on his face.   
The mention of Christmas at the temple had Erza laughing, remembering that Rassilon had decided to visit the two for the holiday only to find a sleep deprived Magnus, a happy and content Azrael and a skeleton tree that appeared to have been burned during the night. Magnus had explained to the two that Azrael was the cause of the mess due to him producing his first flame which lead to Rassilon telling Azrael to not breath fire inside, of course the minute Azrael opened his mouth to say ok, a small plume of fire shot out and singed half of Rassilon’s beard off which had the three laughing for the rest of the day.  
Eventually the others turned up at the fountain and they all headed back to the Academy to see if the list of names had been put up in the main hall yet or not.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> First half of the exams are over, now we just have to wait and see who gets paired with whom and more importantly; which Defender are they facing. Gonna be a while before we find out so be patient and I'll try to get it out ASAP.


	16. Defenders Exam

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The second half of the exam season is underway with the gang being placed in teams of two and their opponents being actual Defenders! Who will survive these grueling three days as they are tested to their limit and pushed well beyond anything they've encountered.

December 04th, 2245

The day was finally upon them; nine teams were being pitched against a Defender to test their skills and prove they had what it took to advance onto second year at the Academy. The team lists had gone up the tail end of November, giving the duos time to refine their skills to be compatible against the Defender that had also been revealed along with the teams. The list was as follows:  
Team 1 was Tarlak and Aztek against Ronin, Team 2 consisted of Emrys and Torbjorn facing off against Dinklebot, Team 3 is Johnson and a reluctant Erza verses Dorian, Team 4 had Benn and Arachnid pitched against Salam, Najrn and Aryanna made up Team 5 and were facing Alice, Team 6 is Amos and Amir surviving against Talon, Blake and Dayna were facing Torgoat as Team 7, lovebirds Rin and Syrian were Team 8 going up against Ragnör and finally Team 9 was Azrael and Quartz against Dagon.  
Over the course of the week; up to three teams would be tested in a single day with Paarthurnax and other members of the Academy boards would be watching along with the enemy Defenders taking mental notes to show where the students went wrong and how to improve. The tests were being held in an abandoned part on the outskirts of Orion City so the students could go all out in their assaults while the Defenders had restraints in place to make it more even.  
First in the zone were Team 1 consisting of Tarlak and Aztek, both in their full combat gear ready to face off against Ronin. As the two slowly walked down the road with their back to one another, the distinct echo of footsteps could be heard all around them; making it almost impossible to know where Ronin would strike. From the smoke rolling in from the far end of the street, walked a man completely dressed in black samurai armour. In each hand were two katana like swords while another four decorated the samurai’s back, two on either side.  
“It’s been awhile since Ronin last wore his Ebony armour to anything” commented Thane as the staff watched the scene unfold via cameras set up in the zone to monitor the events. The students were also seeing the feed but were in a different room to the staff, both located in rooms underneath the zone in a network of tunnels that spread the entire zone.  
Back on the surface, Tarlak and Aztek had drawn their respective weapons and stances, waiting for Ronin to make his move. Ronin simply pivoted so his right side faced the students and raised on of his blades, goading them into attacking. The goad worked and both Tarlak and Aztek attempted a rush attack; with Aztek going low with his Yakuza Shaver and Tarlak aiming high with North Star. In response to this assault, Ronin simply dived down and tapped the other sword in his hand against the ground; which lead to a massive burst of energy in the shape of a dome to expand at lightning fast speed and knock the two flying across the road. “What the hell was that?” asked Aztek as the two slowly got to their feet, “I’m not sure but whatever it is; we can’t let him do something like that again” said Tarlak and Aztek found himself agreeing with his Martian partner, “I’ll keep on charging him with close combat while you use your ice powers at a distance and we can keep him off balance” suggested Aztek which Tarlak nodded to, agreeing with Aztek’s logic.  
Ronin had begun to move closer to the two but kept his distance from the powerhouses when Aztek suddenly rushed him, staying as close to Ronin as possible while weaving between his attempts to strike with the blades. A sudden drop in heat alerted Ronin to what the two had planned to deal with his pulses and was rather impressed they came up with something so fast, but when Aztek moved away as a wave of ice cascaded down the street towards them; Ronin kept his posture and with a simple swish of his blade, the ice was cleaved cleanly in half.  
Finding hard to see the outcome due to the icy mist, Aztek and Tarlak were still on guard but when Ronin suddenly flashed behind them, there was nothing they could do as he released another burst of energy that knocked the duo out cold.

The entire body of students were speechless at the sight. Aztek and Tarlak were considered their big guns so, seeing them both being taken out so quickly was beyond comprehension. They watched as Thane teleported onto the scene with aids to carry the two to the makeshift infirmary to be treated for any minor injuries caused while Ronin left for the staff room.  
“Could the members of Team 2 please make their way to the transmat room” spoke Jocasta over the tanner system, indicating to Torbjorn and Emrys that it was there turn and were given the best of luck from those that were there with them.

Team 2 found themselves facing off against Dinklebot inside what appeared to be an old smelting factory. Dinklebot was an artificial intelligence housed inside a large robotic body, armed with hard-light capabilities which meant he could create almost anything with enough light. Being a Technopath made it slightly easier for Torbjorn to duke it out with Dinklebot while Emrys used his shade abilities to manipulate the shadows into defeating Dinklebot. Seeing that it could be done in terms of defeating a Defender made the others slightly more at ease, Tarlak and Aztek had been released with only minor concussions form Ronin’s blasts and were now with the other watching the fights onscreen.

Team 3 was an interesting one, as it was made up of Johnson who was busy showing off to impress Erza who couldn’t care less at this point. To make matters worse, their opponent was the infamous womaniser called Dorian. While Dorian’s attire of a fancy dark grey suit and his weapon of choice being a book was considered strange for a Defender, those who knew his ability knew to treat him with serious caution.  
“Ah my dear, sweet angel. Have you come to me so that I may sweep you away from this life and make you my own?” spoke Dorian as he produced a single white rose, gesturing it over to Erza, pissing Johnson off and creeping Erza out. Before Erza could explain to Johnson what Dorian’s ability was, the boy had already activated his jump pack and about to connect his fist with Dorian’s face; only for it to be blocked by what appeared to be a white sword. Disengaging and taking a few jumps back from Dorian, Johnson regrouped with Erza who smacked the back of his head.  
“You idiot! If you hadn’t fell for his goad and rushed right in, I was going to explain to you that Dorian is a high enchanter and transmuter, capable of turning simple objects that he touches into weapons and fierce beasts if he chose to” explained Erza as the judged the gravity of their situation. The white sword Dorian used disappeared in a small light and return to being a simple white rose, to which he placed inside his book as a bookmark.  
“Honestly if that is all you have to offer then I must say I am not impressed” said Dorian in a bored tone. This time the two didn’t fall for Dorian’s attempt to get them to attack him, so he decided that he would be the one to initiate the first move of this dance. Turning his book into a large black and white scythe, Dorian leaped at the two and brought the large weapon down hard and fast; only for it to phase right through the two and wedge itself in the gravel. ‘Johnson’ and ‘Erza’ then burst into a bright light that made Dorian close his eyes, giving the real one a chance to press an attack against him.

The match ended with Dorian’s surrender with Johnson holding a wrist cannon to the back of his head and Erza holding her swords in a cross formation against his throat. Back in the rooms; the students were cheering for Team 3 while the staff were groaning at Dorian’s lax attitude towards the exam. With the first three teams finished with their exams, everyone was lead bac to the Academy for a break and would continue with Teams 4, 5 and 6’s exams the following morning.  
A small group consisting of the members of the first three teams, Rin, Azrael, Quartz and Dayna headed out for something to eat while the others decided to rest up for the next batch of exams the following day.  
“It was so cool how the two of you worked together” praised Johnson as Emrys and Torbjorn were becoming slightly embarrassed by all the praise that they were being given for such an easy win, “It was honestly down to sheer luck” replied Emrys with Torbjorn adding, “Yeah, if we had ended up with some like Dorian then who knows what would have happened” Tarlak and Aztek were still a little sore from their failure to win against Ronin but were still happy that the others had managed to win against their Defenders nether the less.

December 05th, 2245

It was morning and the fourth match for the Defenders Exam was underway. Benn and Arachnid where up against Salam, the Corps. resident feline spellcaster and the teacher for the Arcane Arts at the Academy. Her attire was like that of a belly dancer’s outfit that she seemed to be pulling off well, despite the cool nip in the air. While Benn was trying to work as a team; Arachnid was still attempting to act the lone wolf, once again stating he had a superior course of action as he normally did.  
In the student’s room, Dayna was showing her displeasure with Arachnid once again boasting about his superior mindset, “I swear, I’m going to wring that superior neck of his when this is over” she grumbled as everyone laughed awkwardly at the strange sibling relationship the two had. 

Back in the fight, Benn was shooting his beams of cosmic light and firing his metallic feathers at Salam from all sides, but nothing was getting through Salam’s shield and her keen senses for immediate danger. Benn was seriously wondering what had possessed Arachnid to go off on his own when the ground beneath Salam cracked and outburst Arachnid, his spider leg just inches away from Salam’s face but her senses had once again saved her from the attack.  
“This tactic of yours if getting us nowhere” said Benn to Arachnid who simply ignored Benn as he formulated another plan of attack and rushed forward without saying anything, pissing Benn off more. Salam could see that although Benn was willing to try and work together, the whole point of the test, Arachnid was having none of it and was preferring to stick with his “superior tactics”. At any rate, Benn may have a shot of passing due to his attempts at teamwork but unless Arachnid really tried to work with Benn, then Salam didn’t much of a future at the Academy for Arachnid.  
After several minutes of them trying to land a hit on Salam and failing every time, Benn was fed up with Arachnid’s poly so he marched up to him and clocked him one across the face.  
“What was that for!?” questioned Arachnid as he held the side of his face that Benn had struck, “You do realise that to pass these tests is to work together nimrod. You and so-called superior tactics are going to land you in a not so superior position which would be out of this Academy” scolded Benn as Arachnid sat there as if he was being scolded for being caught with his hand in the cookie jar. Salam chose not to press an attack during this as she knew that Benn was scolding Arachnid so that he could stay in the Academy which had her smiling at the two.

Back in the student room, Dayna couldn’t contain her excitement as she ran and hugged Azrael, “Thank that awesome boyfriend of yours for me would yah, he’s finally managed to get that stupid brother of mine off his high horse” was all anyone could get out of her as she squeezed the life out of Azrael who was laughing awkwardly at the whole thing while his scarf was absorbing most of the tears and snot coming from Dayna.

With the scolding now complete, Arachnid and Benn charged Salam at the same time; Benn taking to the skies and keeping his attack on ranged which gave Arachnid time to get in close and attempt at close combat tactics. Despite their now joint efforts, the two failed to land a hit and the time eventually ran out. Salam congratulated them both on their hard work and said she was proud to see them work together and would put in a good word for them both.

Najrn was having a dilemma; he honestly had no idea which one was more beautiful; his partner Aryanna in her newer outfit of a red top with black corset and a white scarf wrapped round her neck that stopped above her waist. Her whip was now held up by the Orb of Temptation; or the Defender known as Alice. Alice wore a blue dress on top of what looked like a black skin body suit and silver amour gauntlets. Her dark brown hair with blonde patches was kept in a messy ponytail. Armed with her sword and shield, Alice wasted no time in charging against Najrn to get rid of the annoying womaniser quickly. Alice’s sword was met with Aryanna’s totem sword, “I may hate his womanising ways like any other woman with eyes, but I’ll be damned if you think I’ll let you take him out without taking me seriously” said Aryanna as she pushed Alice back away from them and took her place in front of Najrn. “Although I thank you for the save, I’ll be damned if I let you face this one alone” said Najrn as he joined Aryanna at her side, “It would be an insult to my pride as a man” that last comment really had Aryanna wondering if she really should be defending him from Alice.  
For the entire match, Aryanna was putting her tactical knowledge to the test by having Najrn goading Alice into attacking them while dodging out the way for Aryanna to attempt some major damage with her Rose Whip and Totem Sword combo. Eventually Alice caught on to their ploy and started changing up her own tactics, starting with not attacking Najrn outright. “Looks like she’s figured it out” said Najrn to Aryanna who was already thinking new ways to defeat Alice, “I’ll keep her distracted, you focus on landing a clean hit on her” said Aryanna before summoning her mother’s eagle spirit and sent it along with a plume of rose petals from the Orb of Temptation to keep Alice occupied while Najrn got into place in the rafters above. The minute he was in position, Najrn attempted to get the jump on Alice with an attack from above but she dodged at the last minute, giving her ample room away from the two.  
“I grow bored of this” said Alice as she sheathed her sword and dropped her shield, “Time to let the Jabberwock have it due for the day” Alice then proceeded to raise her arms into the air as dark purple clouds cackling with lightning shrouded round her as they began settling into a large dragon-like creature that stood on its hind legs and whose red eyes bore hole right through you. It released a screeching roar that had Najrn covering his ears with his hands, only to find droplets of blood coming from them but Aryanna was unaffected by the monster.  
Turning to see Najrn’s gobsmacked expression, Aryanna simply shrugged her shoulders and stated, “With the things I’ve seen as part of that Team of mine. Believe me when I say there is nothing this reality can throw at me that can top using the bathroom after Tarlak on curry night” in the student booth, everyone who wasn’t part of Team A were curious about what she meant, while everyone except Tarlak nodded their heads in agreement while Tarlak himself hung his head in shame, face as red as his eyes.  
Walking forward, Aryanna braced herself against the wind the creature was creating by flapping its wings, “I call upon the ancient guardian of Gallifrey. Lend me your strength in this hour of need; Eatos!” chanted Aryanna as she merged with the eagle spirit and took on her Guardian attire and sprouted silver wings. Next, she took the Orb of Temptation off her waist and clasped it onto her chest, causing the scattered rose petals to come to life once more and shroud her in a twister. Aryanna emerged from the twister about the same height as the Jabberwock, her skin was now completely black and her silver main and wings were replaced by rose petals and three vines sprouted from the back of her head. She still wore the attire of Eatos but she now had smaller, silver wings folder over just under her exposed stomach. Petaled gauntlets ran from the back of her hands to her elbows as she raised her right hand, fingers outstretched.  
“Guardian of Temptation. Rosetta Armageddon” spoke Aryanna in a deeper voice, as she unleashed a massive beam of rose red energy from her hand that enveloped Jabberwock and took a good chunk out of a mountain in the distance.

Everyone knew that the Deity Weapons on Gallifrey were considered legendary, but to witness the destructive power of one of those almost made everyone, students and staff alike, almost shit themselves. Alice had been known for being quite ruthless, even among the Defenders, but for her until recently undefeated Jabberwock technique to fail in record time cemented a single though in the other Defender’s minds; This year’s batch were going to make some serious changes.

The final match of the second day had Amos and Amir pitched against the assassin Defender known only as Talon. Both students were managing to hold out against the steampunk owl dressed assassin, but Amos’ temper was starting to get the better of him. Despite becoming friendlier and co-operative with everyone else after the Kaaba incident, Amos still had quite the temper on him and his frustrations were aimed at a few things; Kaaba and his manipulations, himself for being so weak for falling for said manipulations and those in his year constantly outgrowing him. When Team A had returned from their trip to Gallifrey, he was initially jealous that they had gained so much power, so he used that jealousy to find ways of making himself stronger too and he found it when one of Aztek’s weird Totem necklaces started talking to him.

In the staff base, Paarthurnax had his watchful eye on the two as he knew they were still sore from being too weak; Amir for failing her Trail (Rassilon had told him) and Amos for the entire Kaaba incident, making them perfect partners for the exam; or so he hoped.

“This is getting us nowhere” said Amir as she threw another large piece of debris, only for Talon to weave his way through it. Amos agreed that it was time for him to use the Totem he ‘borrowed’ from Aztek, “I’ve got a wild idea, think you can cover me?” he asked Amir who looked at him critically before nodding in agreement. Managing to slip away from Talon under the cover made by the dust cloud emanating from the debris Amir had recently thrown, Amos found some cover to hide behind and took out the ‘borrowed’ Totem necklace from around his neck and looked at it. The voice had become almost background noise to Amos but at this very point in time, he could no longer block the voice out, “Please give me the strength to help my friends” said Amos and as he touched the necklace against his forehead, lightning suddenly struck down and enveloped him in orange light. 

Amir was really struggling, Talon was just too fast for her symbiote to keep up with and she was forced to become fully enveloped in its armour to ensure Talon couldn’t do any lasting damage. Amir was honestly starting to think that she would fail when suddenly a lightning bolt strikes the ground, right in between her and Talon. Emerging from the crater left behind was Amos except something was off; for one he was now dressed in strange orange and yellow Hawaiian looking attire, he now sprouted a small orange mow hawk between his antennae and had white markings that covered the edges of his eyes that were now black with orange iris. “We have been charged with protecting Amos’ friends” spoke a strange voice that obviously wasn’t coming from Amos as he didn’t use his mouth. Talon went to try and land an attack but Amos was faster and managed to land several critical blows before throwing Talon against a wall, the impact forced the wall to crumble; almost crushing Talon had Amir not intervened and snatched him out from under the falling debris.  
“What the hell was that for Amos?” demanded Amir as she placed Talon down and turned to face her partner who held his emotionless face, “We were summoned to protect the friends of Amos” spoke the voice as Amos started walking forward towards Talon but Amir stood between him and the downed Defender, “You are not killing him Amos. I know you can hear me in there, you’ve got to fight this” pleaded Amir as she noticed a small flicker in Amos’ eyes which meant it was working.  
Amir decided to take a leap of faith and place a hand on the side of Amos’ face, “You recovered from what Kaaba did to you, it made you stronger. This is no different from then and you’re so much stronger than you were then, you have friends to talk to, to help with your problems. Don’t push us away for power” with every word, Amos started showing more and more signs of struggling against whatever had a hold of him as a small Totem appeared on his forehead. Spotting the Totem, Amir quickly reached up and pulled it from his head. There was some resistance but Amir managed to fully disconnect the Totem from Amos’ head, causing Amos to lose the strange attire in a burst of energy and become unconscious alongside Talon.

The second day of the exams ended on a much sombre note than the last, with Amos being checked into the Academy’s infirmary so Thane could keep an eye on his fluctuating power base that still hadn’t settled since the incident regarding the Totem that was under very close study by the Defenders at their main HQ in the city.  
The remainders of the gang decided it would be best if they simply stayed in their dorms and rest for the final day of the Defenders Exam. Azrael found himself up well into the night staring at the night’s sky while having thoughts about the outcome of his fight against Dagon, he was confident that he and Quartz would be able to hold their own against him; it was more to do with his drákification training that he was worried about. During his musings, Azrael noticed that Aztek was also unable to sleep as he joined Azrael in staring up at the stars, “Such a beautiful night” was all Aztek said as Azrael simply nodded in agreement as the two friends sat in silence staring at the stars.  
“That Totem Amos had” said Azrael after about a minute’s silence, “It was one of the Aumaka Totems you got from our time at the Isles, wasn’t it?” Aztek was silent for a while before sighing, “I knew he had the Totem because after you lot came back from Gallifrey, he came to me and said that he was hearing a voice whenever he was near myself” explained Aztek, “I revealed to him what he was hearing was the voice of the Lightning Totem who had felt his pain and was reaching out to help. I gave the Totem to him but gave him the warning that with a still fragile mindscape from Kaaba’s meddling, he would be overwhelmed by the Totem’s power and low and behold; that is what happened today in the arena”  
“You couldn’t have known something like this would happen Tek, you are not to blame for what Amos decided to do with the Totem” said Azrael as he placed his hand on Aztek’s shoulder, “Maybe when he recovers and is discharged from the infirmary, you could teach him to better control the Totem”?” suggested Azrael before he stood up and headed over to his bed to rest up for his test in the morning, leaving Aztek to ponder on the advice he was given.

December 06th, 2245

Blake and Dayna worked considerably well together against their opponent. Torgoat was known for his Chimera bio morphing capabilities, meaning he could change parts of his anatomy at will to several species of animal at the same time. The duo was currently pinned behind one of Blake’s barriers as Torgoat was unleashing poisoned barbs from his back.  
“We need to get you behind him so you can web him up” said Blake from behind his barrier, “I’m going to use my Polaris Shield to draw him in and when I do, you’re going to web him up so he can no longer move” Dayna agreed with this plan as Blake materialised a purple shield before throwing it like a discus, bouncing off Torgoat and several bits of debris surrounding them. Crushing the hand that threw the shield into a fist, the debris that were struck by the shield were suddenly pulled in the direction of Torgoat, forcing him to cease his barrage of poison barbs and begin evading the debris attracted to his gravity. So busy with the attracted debris, Torgoat failed to see Dayna sneak up and strike him with her paralysing strike and thus ending their match.

Rin and Syrian were pitched against the Defender known as Ragnör, a size altering fire demon from Muspelheim. The fight didn’t last long as Ragnör used his size alteration to quickly over power Syrian’s sonic screams while absorbing Rin’s demonic flames and turning them against him. It was evidence that you had to be prepared for an enemy that could nullify your powers or was simply too much for you to handle on your own, lessons Rin and Syrian learned the hard way.

Finally, it was time for the final match with Azrael and Quartz going up against the Dragónian Dagon. Since coming back from Gallifrey, Azrael had once again changed his combat attire. He still wore the black combat trousers and his signature googles, but now he also wore a light grey scarf that was wrapped twice round his neck and dropped to his waist. He now wore a navy blue opened jacket and a light grey top with the jacket sleeve on his robotic arm rolled half way up his arm. A large red sash was tied round his waist with the excess hanging limply down to his left knee. Muramasa was strapped across the back of his waist with the hilt on his right side while Pendragon was strapped to his back with the hilt on his left shoulder. Quartz was in his normal combat gear that consisted of combat trousers, boots, green jacket and his power dampening gauntlets.  
“We’ve got to be careful with him. There’s no telling what he’s capable of” warned Azrael to Quartz who agreed. Dagon faced the two in the same attire he wore during his training with Azrael, hands in pockets with a bored looking expression on his face. Eventually a tumbleweed brushed past this Mexican standoff, once the bush had floated past; Dagon was rushing the two with incredible speed. He would have landed his initial hit, had Quartz not let loose an arc of red energy, blasting him into a fallen building nearby.  
Dagon was almost immediately out of the debris without so much as a scratch on him, Azrael took this moment to thrust out his hand in a fist with his thumb, pointer finger and pinkie still outstretched, "Eques" muttered Azrael. A green rune appeared in the arena his hand was outstretched before bursting into green flames and a knight rose from the flames; the same knights used by Dagon. “Guess you’ve figured out how to summon familiars” said Dagon as he summoned three of the same Knights, “What can I say” replied Azrael with a shrug, “I’m a quick study” reaching behind for Muramasa, Azrael two smaller daggers in similar design to the blade and charged Dagon with his Knight and Quartz.  
The skirmish between Team 9 and Dagon lasted quite a while; Quartz and Azrael’s familiar had managed to keep Dagon’s familiars at bay while Azrael and Dagon fought using Muramasa daggers and dragon claws to see which was better. Eventually Dagon started gaining the upper hand due to Azrael not being used to summoning a familiar before, forcing Azrael to release a plume of blue fire to cover his fall back to Quartz.  
“At this rate, we’re going to run out of steam before he even breaks a sweat” said Quartz as he helped Azrael stay on his feet as he dispelled his familiar. A silhouette appeared in the wall of blue flame as Dagon, fully drákified, walked through it as if he was walking through a waterfall. “We’ve only got one shot at this” said Azrael as he merged the Muramasa dagger back into the blades true form, “Do you trust me?” he asked Quartz who nodded before taking a few steps back. Closing his eyes, Azrael brought both hands to Muramasa’s hilt and focused solely on the sword and breathed deeply. Black flames started appearing on Azrael as they slowly took the form of black armour with gold markings, golden wings sprouted from his back as he opened his now red eyes to face Dagon and muttered, “Muramasa Armour”

It was a showdown between monsters is what Quartz was thinking as he took cover behind debris, far away from the two menacing figures that were causing the ground to shake from their fight.  
“Think we only have enough time for one final attack” huffed Dagon, impressed that Azrael was managing to keep up with him despite using about half his power. Azrael was in no better state as keeping the connection to Muramasa was taking more and more of his power, giving him just enough for one final strike. Dagon focused some of his reserve power into one final his fist while Azrael pooled his into Muramasa, making the sword glowing with purple energy. With their energies collected; the two rushed forward faster than Quartz could see and remained standing there.  
Quartz was worried that a simple breeze would blow the two of them over as he left the solace from behind the rubble to inspect. As he got closer, both Dagon and Azrael fell at the same time; revealing it to be a tie and the match was over with Dagon unable to continue, thus ending the Defenders Exam.

After Azrael had been discharged from the infirmity for exhausting his power reserves again, they even have a special code word for it now, the whole gang, Amos had stabilised and was released while Azrael was recuperating, were going out to Erza’s work from some much need celebration for enduring three weeks of hellish torture known as exam season. “I’d like to make a toast to everyone here. You have all made this year both stressful and exciting at the same time” declared Tarlak as they others raised their glasses to join in on the toasting of exam season finally ending and the beginning of the Christmas Holidays.

Paarthurnax and the other Defenders reconvened inside the Principal’s office, “I can see what you mean by their potential Paarthurnax” said Salam as she and the other Defenders stood in front of the Principal’s desk with Paarthurnax looking out of his window, “They may show potential but, are they truly ready for what we have planned for them?” questioned Dorian as the other Defenders fell quiet, unable to answer the obvious question in the room.  
“I thank you all for the hand have all played in the tests that were held for the previous three days” spoke Paarthurnax, finally moving away from his view at the window and turned to face the group, “The results you have given me will be used to prepare this batch of students for our little upcoming event”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Had some fun writing this, get to see some more action after couple of chapters of filler peace! The event that was mentioned at the end will be brought forward in the coming chapter so stay tuned for more excitement!


	17. Dawn of the Defender Tournament: New Year. New Stress

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Christmas has came and gone for the students at the Defender Academy. With the coming of the new year comes new classes, new surprises and of course, new levels of stress. But hey, that's a student's life isn't it?

January 10th, 2255

Christmas came and went and the Academy in a spectacular fashion. Some of the gang along with other students took the time to visit home to be with family, while the rest stayed behind in the Dorms and celebrated with their friends instead. The canteen had been completely decked out with festive decorations and heaps of food that managed to put even Tarlak and Johnson into mini food comas. While the day was spent mainly trying out new games or enjoying a much need snowball fight, eventually the time came and Christmas was over. New Years was just as wild with tons of dancing, laughing and a heap of kissing and people suddenly disappearing, check the broom closet, but they all managed to gather in the centre of town to watch the fireworks as they celebrated the start of a new and exciting year with one another and laughing at Johnson trying to swim in the fountain after drinking too much.  
The rest of the holiday was rather uneventful, and so it was back to school life and training routines. There were new classes to choose from in the selector for the students; such as Arcane Arts and Medic Training. Azrael, Tarlak, Emrys, Aztek and Rin chose to take the Arcane class while Aryanna, Dayna, Quartz, Benn and Amir took on the Medic Training classes. For the Arcane Arts, the teacher was the Feline Defender known as Salam who was an opponent in the Defenders Exam while Defender Alice surprisingly taught the Medic class.  
Speaking of arcane; Azrael had started getting to grips with his summoning familiar technique and was able to have the Knight out for prolonged periods of time but was still having trouble maintaining him while in combat. Defender Training was overseen by Ronin while the students spared against basic robots to test the limits of their capabilities.   
In the following months since their trip to Gallifrey; Tarlak had been training to keep his true self under control while keeping his cryomancy in check. Blake was still experimenting with the two Deity weapons at his disposal, he currently preferred using Polaris in the form of a shield that when it hit something was slave to Blake’s growing powers of magnetism. Aryanna had been pushing her limits with her mother’s Guardian Spirit Eatos while also taking an interest in the arcane arts, going as far as asking Salam for private tutor lessons due to the clash between the Arcane and Medic classes. Johnson was disappointed that he was unable to show off his progress during the Defenders Exam with Emperious; he had split his spear into two Escrima Sticks which were much more practical, while his mastery over the Inferno arts was slowly improving.   
Aztek had taken to heart what Azrael had said during that night of the exams about helping Amos with the totem; and so here they were sparring like they had been ever since Amos had been released from the infirmary. Aztek had been given custody over Amos’ totem by Paarthurnax, who trusted that Aztek’s judgement would mean that Amos would handle the power when given the Totem once again. 

Today had started as it normally would; Azrael and Aztek would spar before joining the other in the canteen for breakfast to discuss their plans for after school. They all headed for their first class, History as always, but today something was different about it. For one thing, Ms. Minnie was joined in her entrance to the class by none other than the Principal, who had with him a sheet that appeared to have names on it.  
“Good morning students. Now some of you are probably wondering what I am doing here in your History class; I am here to reveal to you the purpose of last year’s Defenders Exam” when the results of the exams had been released during the holiday, Azrael and the others found it quite odd that there was no sign of a Defenders Exam on the notice boards, and when they asked a senior about it; they simply shrugged and told them it must’ve been a new thing as they had never heard of it.  
“We tested you to see how far you had all came since your enrolment several months back, the results were then used to create our two teams for this year’s Defenders Tournament” explained Paarthurnax, which really caught everyone in the room by surprise as they had either heard of or had watched the Tournaments of years previous but never imagined they would partake. The tournament was normally held in the spring of every year where several Academies would choose up to two teams to be pitted against each other. While all the Academies would be given assignments over the summer for the participating teams; the winning Academy would not only have the honour of being named the Number One Academy, but would also have access to more challenging assignments.  
“Now while we have managed to place everyone who was part of the Defenders Exam, some will be the reserve but do not digress; all of you will gain experience from this opportunity” said Paarthurnax as he began reading the names off the paper he brought in, “For Orion Team A, the members are as follow: Azrael Sigma, Emrys Shadewalker, Aryanna Lundar, Rin Fujimoto and Dayna Reilly” Rin was actually quite surprised by the mention of his name, surely he would have been in reserve due to his performance but he wasn’t going to voice that and instead joined the others in Team A in their mental happy dance.  
“For Orion Team B, the members are as follow: Tarlak Markeed, Erza Sigma, Blake Jones, Benedict Morningstar and Aztek. The remaining members of Teams A, B and C are in reserve” finished Paarthurnax has he turned his gaze from the list to the class sat in front of him, “You will have the following three months to work on teamwork and improve on your abilities. Classes will still run as normal and I know some of you will be seeking advice from the staff and some of the Defender you faced during the Exam, which is why each of you have my permission to seek out one mentor for the upcoming Tournament. The list of available mentors will be available after school hours in the main hall as per usual” informed Paarthurnax before leaving the room, leaving the gang to start making a battle plan for how best they were going to spend the following three months in the lead up to the Tournament. While they were planning, one thing was on everyone’s mind; this was going to be a long three months.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The purpose of the Defenders Exam has been revealed. Teams for the upcoming Tournament have been revealed (Que training montage for the three months) I won't spend too many chapters on the lead up to the Tournament but I wonder which mentors people will pick and what the other Academies are like. Guess we'll have to wait for the next chapter to see. Next Time: Dawn of the Defenders Tournament: Meet the Competition.


	18. Dawn of the Defenders Tournament: Meet the Competition

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The teams have been announced for the upcoming Defenders Tournament where they will be tested to the limit and pitted against their own friends! But what about the other Academies partaking in this event? Time for the gang to meet their competition

January 15th, 2255

Five days into the gruelling training for the tournament and Azrael and many of the others already wanted to state a mutiny on their training instructor. After they found out about the Tournament, Erza had the bright idea for all of them to use the abandoned zone that was used for the Defender Exam as a training field for the Tournament and they were all stupid enough to agree. They had to get permission from the principle to use the abandoned zone, to which he agreed on the condition that Ronin would be present at all time to ensure safety for the students.  
“I honestly don’t know how you manage to keep this up” huffed Johnson to Quartz as they made the umpteenth lap, “You think this is bad, try living with her” added Azrael however, before they got to send more silent digs at her, Erza’s senses had hinted towards gossips and was glaring in their direction, hushing them for now.  
“Alright then” called Erza after a half hour break to get everyone rested and actually feeling themselves again, “You know the drill and pair up. We’ve got another hour before we split into the respective teams for specialist training” Since they were technically on enemy teams, these training sessions spent together were only used for general training; specialist training was being handled in their assigned teams at either ends of the abandoned zone.  
The hour was spent with them casually sparring between one another and mixing it up every ten minutes. Now came the time for them to divide into their assigned teams to work on teamwork and other specialised fields they had to get down before the three months were up. The first couple of days working with new teammates was difficult for some, especially after settling into a team they were with at the start, but this was all part of their Defender training; learning to adapt to new teams.  
Some of the participants had taken the principle’s offer and chose a mentor to train with; Azrael chose Dagon to learn more about the Dragónian heritage, Aryanna asked Salam during one of her tutor lessons, Rin went with Ragnör to improve his fire control, Blake asked Dinklebot cyborg to cyborg. The rest chose to train alone or with partnered spirits like the majority of Team A, Amos, Aztek and Erza with everyone working towards perfecting their unique styles.

March 15th, 2255

It had been almost two months since the announcement of the teams for the tournament, these last two months had been stressful to say the least for the participants. Class had taken up most of the mornings while teams and mentor training had taken up the rest, the two months had been tough on them but the teams were feeling the benefits from all their hard work.  
Azrael had managed to learn more about his drákification and could now hold the form for longer periods of time, Rassilon had sent him details on how to train with his Eye of Harmony; seeing as the Tournament would be a good place to really show it off.  
Aryanna had meditated with her Totem and met once again with her mother’s spirit that resides within it, there she learned that the eagle was one of five spirit she could summon; she currently could summon the Eagle, the Turtle and the Bison spirits but never at the same time. Her Arcane tutoring with Salam had borne some fruit as well, through the meditations Salam had shown her to unlock her Arcane Aura; Aryanna had achieved a new level of understanding with Rosetta, granting her newfound powers over nature.  
Rin had been put through his paces by Ragnör. Though the demon knew of Rin’s childhood, it didn’t stop him from using it as fuel to push Rin further. In the two months, Rin was still unable to unsheathe the soulsword that he carried with him, but his control over his flames had improved considerably and could now coat his tantōs in the flame for and addition in destructive power.  
Tarlak had almost enjoyed his training with his spirit Ymir. The Tundra Deity had shown Tarlak a whole new way to control his cryomancy in a more effective way than he had been using it in the past. Although, as he trained his cryomancy, Tarlak started developing a sense of dread as he knew his family would be there in the stands watching the tournament as they always had done in the past. During the two-month training, Tarlak found himself visiting the Quartermaster for an updated version of his uniform; he now wore a forest green tailcoat with a furred frilling around the collar and a red sash like belt round his waist that had North Star sheathed on his right side and the Mace in the form of a small tube clipped on the left. He wore black boots that slightly curled at the toes and still had the standard Martian leg armour guards and arm gauntlets.

The other Academies would be arriving in Orion City over the course of the final month and Tenrou Academy would be hosting a small party for the teams partaking in the Tournament. There were no classes on today as the first of the Academies were arriving and so the teams and staff were there to greet their guests when they arrived. The gang were in the middle of breakfast when the Umbra Coven burst onto the scene in their naturally dramatic fashion. The Umbra Coven was a European based institute where young witches and sages learned to harness their divine connections. The sages were more attuned to heavenly magic, and appeared more angelic than the witches who were more attuned to demonic magic, and could summon demonic constructs.  
After the Coven, next to arrive was the team from the Dangór College, a place where young Dragónians go to harness their Arcane Aura as well as fully unlock their drákification heritage. Due to Azrael and Dagon being only half Dragónian, they could hide their drákified state, but for full Dragónians; the change is permanent. After the school of fire breathing lizards, came the team from the Tenshi Crusade's prestigious Academy. The Tenshi Crusade was a religious group that were governed by their morals to see the world purged from evil demons. Rin was originally a student at their Tenshi Academy but when his heritage was discovered, they almost had him executed had Paarthurnax not intervened and had the boy transferred to the Tenrou Academy. When the team from the True Cross arrived, Rin slipped away from the canteen, saying he no longer had much of an appetite anymore. Syrian decided to after her boyfriend while more teams entered the canteen for breakfast; there was the team from the Asgardian Federation, the team from the Rassilon Institute swooshed in as if they owned the place; sending glares at the Orion Teams especially at Azrael. The team from the Geno-Shia Institute were as surprised to see Benn as he was them, but with many a tear and hugs they were catching up at their own table in the canteen.  
Despite the rivalry between the two academies; members of the Ryse team still turned up at the academy, probably to scope out the competition but some of the members seemed friendly enough as they interacted with some of the other teams in the canteen. While some members of different teams started up conversations, the team from the newly setup academy; Talon Noir arrived, making them the final team to arrive for the tournament. With all the teams now here, Paarthurnax and the other principles from the other participating Academies entered the canteen.  
“First, I’d like to welcome every single one of you to Tenrou Academy. I hope you enjoy your stay for the foreseeable month and that the bonds you make here last a lifetime” spoke Paarthurnax as he done his general welcome speech, “To ensure the good will kept between our Academies is maintained; the members of the Orion Teams will act as guides around the city for those wishing to take in the sights and get to know one another before the Tournament begins in one month’s time. This is optional mind and any hostilities made towards my students will be met with a firm punishment, so let this be the first and hopefully only warning you will all need” informed Paarthurnax before he and the other principles left the canteen, probably to catch up on old times and stuff like that Azrael thought.

The gang had offered to the others if they wanted to join them in touring the city however, most of them chose to wonder the city on their own while others simply ignored them. Not all was a lost cause, as some members of the other teams took them up on the offer and joined them for a trip around the city. Joining them were Katiana from the Umbra Coven, Gren from Ryse and Jean from Geno-Shia. As they set off to leave the Academy, Aryanna accidentally bumped into one of the members of the Talon Noir Team, “I’m so sorry about that” she said to the young man she had just collided with.  
“It’s of no concern to me, here let me help” offered the guy she walked into, as he stretched his hand out to help her to her feet, “Say are you on the Orion Team?” he asked her to which she responded with a nod, “I don’t mean to impose, but would it be at all possible if I joined you on your trip?” asked the guy and Aryanna found no reason not to so she agreed with a happy nod.  
“Come on Aryanna, Shops aren’t going to stay open for long” called Azrael from the front door, looking back to see her talking with someone, “You plan on introducing us?” This made Aryanna realise that she had yet to ask for his name, “My name is Anzu of Talon Noir, and I’d be happy to join you” spoke the man, now known to them as Anzu, before they all set out to view the city.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The tournament is getting ever closer, and now all the characters have met! What is Anzu doing at the tournament, has it something to do with this Master's plan? Gonna have to wait and see as next chapter; The Tournament Begins!


	19. Dawn of the Defenders Tournament

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The time has finally come; the first round of the Defenders Tournament is underway! Friends will be pitted against one another in a mad scramble to see who will be named the best Academy

April 10th, 2255

The day had come at last; the Defenders Tournament was about to begin, with Academies competing to be crowned the best in the Alliance. During the final month that ran up to the event, more and more teams had arrived from across the Alliance, from Martians to Spartans and everyone between. Currently Azrael was standing in an entry way to the derelict zone along with the rest of Orion A and the other competing teams from Tenshi, Umbra, Dangór, Ryse, Orion B, Talon Noir, Rassilon, these were the ones that Azrael were mostly concerned about due to them being the first to arrive, the others were still considered but he was mainly focusing on those main teams for now.  
People from all over the Alliance would be watching this event over the week it would run, ample opportunity for students to show off their skills and possibly earn an early placement alongside a Defender team. 

For the first round of the Tournament, the teams were pitched against other team in single combat, the teams who either defeat the other team or with the most member still standing after the time limit would advance to the second round. Stepping out into the derelict zone, Orion Team A was facing off against the team from the Twilight Cluster, a region of space home to monstrous creatures that once served the Darkness but were now one of the newer members to the Alliance. Azrael knew that the others were somewhere in the zone, facing off against people they had only just met to see if they could cut it as Defenders. The two teams chose their first combatants, anxiously waiting for the counter in the distance to finish its countdown.

The first round between Orion A and Team Twilight, was the shade Emrys against a large man the others team called Frank. Frank’s appearance was very similar to Frankenstein’s monster; green skin stitched together along with tattered black clothes. Two pylons seemed to be protruding from his back with green electricity sparking between them and round his body. A siren was heard in the background and the monster charged almost immediately at Emrys, green lightning crackling around his clenched fists.  
Being the smaller and therefore more agile of the two, Emrys leaped over Frank with ease as Frank’s lightning fist impacted with the ground where Emrys was just minutes before, leaving a small crater in its wake. Charging both fits with electricity, Frank began a seemingly endless barrage of fists, with Emrys ducking and weaving between them all and getting a few strikes in at Frank’s large legs. Giving into his rage, Frank struck the ground hard with his charged fists, sending out a massive arc of energy that paralysed Emrys, leaving him wide open for attack. Frank used this opportunity to successfully strike Emrys with his electrically charged fists, it didn’t last long as Emrys phased into his shadow to escape the onslaught.

Inside the temporary hangers, Orion A were watching the match unfold on the monitors. They knew that Emrys was more than capable of dealing with the likes of a hulking lightning monster, their minds were currently focusing on their own fights and those of their friends. Azrael looked over at Aryanna and knew that she would be concerned about the other team as well as their newly made friends in the other teams; particularly Anzu. In the month before the start of the Tournament, Aryanna had been spending time with Anzu by showing him round the city’s sights and they seemed to be connecting well.  
Back in the arena, Emrys had managed to lure Frank into a nearby building using a trail of shadows, “Do you honestly believe you can win with a coward’s tactic?” mocked Frank, attempting to have Emrys reveal himself, this only helped in giving Frank’s location away to Emrys. The shade connected with the shadows around Frank’s location, and began constricting his movements with tendrils. With Frank now total immobile thanks to Emrys’ use of the surrounding shadows, the first match went to Emrys and Orion A. Next from Orion A was Dayna who was up against a girl named Kissa, who was wrapped in several bandages and wore an Egyptian style tunic and assorted accessories. While waiting in bated breath, everyone on Orion A shared the same thought. This was going to be a tough week ahead of them.

Elsewhere; Talon Noir had just wrapped up their fifth and final matchup against the Martian Team, earning them the first out of seven spots available for the Tournament. The Umbra Coven where on their second last match for the day against the Geno-Shia Team, the second spot went to the Rassilon Institute team that defeated the Spartan Team with equal ease to Talon Noir. “Come on Winston, you can win this one!” yelled Astrid as the person named Winston faced off against his opponent from the Valéryan Team. Native to the icy planet of Hymala, Winston was an intelligent yeti that was both the brains and muscle of Team Ryse with a literal heart of gold. His opponent was a metamorph named Reese, who was using the faces and voices of Winston’s teammates against him and time was running out. The teams from Dangór and Tenshi were in a state of deadlock.  
Currently both teams had an equal number of wins and the final match between their final two would decide the victor. Fighting for the Tenshi Team was Ruji Golan, top student at Tenshi Academy and best friend to Rin before the infamous Oni Cataclysm. His opponent was Frax Nathair, a flame element Dragónian with red wings and scales dotted all over his person, like Dagon’s Drákified form. He wore a long open red coat with the kanji for Fire on the back along with white puffy trousers and horns of fire protruded from his messy hair. It was Golem against Dragon as these two butted heads as their patience ran out faster than the time left in the match.  
“Why don’t you just throw in the towel lizard lips?” taunted Ruji, attempting to get Frax to lose his edge and grant him an opening to finish this stalemate, “You got rocks in your ears again? There ain’t no way in hell I’m giving up to someone like you” replied Frax who did launch an assault on Ruji but if there was an opening then Ruji has missed the window as they clashed in explosions of rock and fire that flew everywhere from their barrages of attacks.

Eventually a loud horn blared throughout the zone, declaring that time was up for those still fighting their matches. Along with Talon Noir and Team Rassilon; Team Ryse won their match after Reese made the mistake of insulting Winston, earning them fourth place behind Team Umbra. Both Orion A and B made it through their matches without much difficulty and were planning on celebrating along with their new friends in the other teams. Unfortunately, the match between Team Tenshi and Team Dangór ended in a tie, leaving an empty space to be filled in the roster. To make things more interesting, an eighth spot became available for another team to join the second round. Dangór was pitted against the Twilight Team and Tenshi against Geno-Shia for the now two free spots in the second round. Dangór pummelled the Twilight Team, earning the seventh spot while Geno-Shia put up a hard battle but in the end, it was Team Tenshi that was awarded the eighth and final spot in this year’s Defenders Tournament.

“I’d like to propose a toast” spoke Erza to the large group of people in front of her. Once the matches had concluded, Orion A and B along with members of Team Ryse, Kat for the Umbra Team and Anzu from Talon Noir all went out to Erza’s place of work for a required celebration on making it to the next round. Although they had lost, members of the Geno-Shia Team accompanied their friends in celebrating their advancement in the tournament, “After tonight, all of the teams assembled here will be enemies as far as the arena is concerned. Try your best out there and may the best team win out there!” everyone cheered and raised their glasses in joining Erza in her good luck toast before they went back to their conversations.  
On the rooftop overlooking the café was an ominous figure, blanketed only by the shadow being cast from a taller building. Not moving a single inch, the figure watched the teams celebrate in the café before taking a circular device out of a pouch. the light from the devices revealed the pale face of Arachnia, member of Talon Noir. The light of the device dimmed as the same hooded figure from Gallifrey walked into view, “Report agent”  
“Anzu has gained the trust of most of the other teams, especially the female known as Aryanna. They have yet to show signs of doubt towards both himself and the team, how to you wish us to proceed?” reported Arachnia to the figure, “Continue as normal for the time being. The Trojan has been set in motion and when they discovered our plan, it will be far too late for them to stop us” spoke the figure before the light from the device was cut completely, leaving Arachnia once again under the cover of shadows.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's finally happening! Been really busy with other commitments which was why it took as long to get this chapter out, but it's here now with more on the way!


	20. Defenders Tournament: Cat Fights From Hell

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Day one is underway for the Defenders Tournaments, the first challenge of the Tournament pits the teams against themselves and time itself! Who will win the first challenge of the Tournament?

April 11th, 2255

“Welcome one and all to the exciting first day of the Defenders Tournament!” exclaimed the presenter over the sound system to the amassing crowd of watchers; both in the arena and at home. “We’ve got an exciting day lined up for you over in the derelict zone where today’s challenge will be taking place.”

From their start points, the participants could hear the loud cheering of the crowd as the announcer explained to them what the challenge was, “Today’s challenge is a race against other teams to the top of the tower. At the top is a ticking time bomb that must be defused for that team to win the challenge.” Explained one of the commentators, “They had better be careful as they will also be competing against the other teams to make it to the top” spoke the other commentator.  
“Now on to who we have lined up in terms of participants. From Orion Team A we have Aryanna Lundar, the silent ninja known as Genzo from Talon Noir, the purple haired witch called Circe Bavmorda represents the Umbra Coven, Benn Morningstar for Orion Team B, for Dangór College Hydros Pollá has been chosen, the blondie with pearly white teeth called Arthur from Tenshi Academy, Narpax Druesi of the famed Druesi Twins for the Rassilon Institute and from Ryse Academy it’s none other than their water ninja Gren Shikora” spoke the announcer, getting the crowds even more riled up as some of these members were well known.  
Aryanna felt as if she had both her hearts in her mouth and throat, what possessed her to put her name forward for the first challenge of the entire Tournament. Everything was riding on her performance in this as it would set an impression of both her and the team she represented. As the gate to the zone slowing grinded upwards, Aryanna steeled her nerves as she strode out onto the field, ready to take on the others and win this first challenge for Orion Team A. 

It was complete anarchy. The minute the alarm blared for the start of the challenge, all the flyers took to the sky while Genzo and Gren done their ninja thing and began running up the side of the building. The skirmish between Hydros, Benn and Aryanna quickly turned into a fierce three-way brawl in the sky with neither side packing in; Hydros was managing to keep them at a distance with his purple fire currently spewing from his three heads while Benn was in an endless mix of offensive divine projectiles and dodging Hydros’ barrage of fire. Aryanna had long given up trying to get them both and had landed on the half way point of the tower but was pinned by both Genzo’s shuriken and Circe’s magi bolts.  
“Has anyone every told you it’s not polite to assault a lady?” spoke Arthur in his deeply posh voice as he swung his sword, creating a wave of sparkling light energy that Circe teleported away from but knocked Genzo out an open window. Arthur then turned to Aryanna and held out his hand to help her up, which she accepted before dusting herself off, “Thanks for that but I had it under control” said Aryanna which only sparked a dramatic chortle from Arthur. “I must say you are a feisty one” said Arthur as he slapped Aryanna’s shoulder, “But the battlefield is never a place for such a beautiful and delicate flower such as yourself, not without a strong man such as myself keeping you safe and protected” At this comment, Aryanna slowly looked up at Arthur with a large smile on her face with her eyes closed as she placed a hand atop Arthur’s one on her shoulder.

The rest of Orion Team A had been watching the display from their watchtower when they heard what Arthur had said to Aryanna. Emrys sprayed his morning tea all over Rin whose jaw had hit the floor in shock, Dayna had the look of pure murder in her eyes while Azrael was on the floor laughing about how screwed Arthur was right now. Back in the tower, quick as a flash, Aryanna crushed Arthur’s hand before kneeing him in the gut; still with the false smile on her face.  
“I can barely tolerate when Johnson and Najrn are attempting to make me their girlfriend, but when a pompous pig such as yourself come along and thinks cause I’m a woman, I instantly need saving?” Aryanna said in a scarily calm voice as red energy started rolling off her in waves, making Arthur take a few fearful steps back as he found himself in a cold sweat. Everyone else had momentarily stopped their fights as they felt the growing malicious intent coming from Aryanna and all took several steps away from her in fear of their own life. Circe had heard what Arthur had said and was also very much pissed at him but with the amount of malicious intent coming off Aryanna, she knew Arthur was in for a very painful existence. The energy coming from Aryanna suddenly turned into a twister of rose petals that enveloped her completely, “Tell me woman have no place here Arthur after this delicate flower has beaten you within an inch of your life”

True to her word, Arthur was left in an almost unrecognisable heap of limbs whimpering from the monuments beatdown that he had received just moments ago. Aryanna took a moment to compose herself from the beatdown before leaping out of the building and continuing to soar up to the top of the building, only to have Genzo’s shuriken embed themselves in Eatos’ wings effectively grounding her on the roof.  
“I’ve just beaten the asshat who thought the battlefield wasn’t for a woman, do you really want to join him down there?” asked Aryanna, showing she was still pissed at what Arthur had said. Either Genzo was deaf or he just didn’t care as he sent another wave of shuriken at Aryanna, who deflected them by summoning her bull totem Byron in the form of a large gauntlet shield.  
“Death wish it is then” said Aryanna as she finished summoning Byron. The attire was fundamentally the same as when she summoned Eatos except, instead of wings and an eagle headpiece, the large shield spilt into two massive gauntlets that covered most of her arms and a totem headpiece of a bull appeared on her head with her hair tied behind it. Not wanting another barrage of shuriken flying her way, Aryanna took the moments silence to charge Genzo who managed to dodge Aryanna’s attempt at making him a ninja pancake. Quickly pivoting, Aryanna managed to grab onto Genzo’s leg and proceeded to slam him into the ground, knocking the wind right out of him. Satisfied that he wouldn’t be getting up any time soon, Aryanna turned to head for the bomb only to see Genzo was already there mid defuse.  
“What the?” questioned Aryanna, turning back to the ‘Genzo’ at her feet, only to see it shimmer and fade from sight; a clone of some sort. With the bomb defused, the same alert once again blared through the zone, signalling the end of the first challenge, “In a sudden turn of events, Genzo from Talon Noir has successfully managed to defuse the bomb while also dealing with Orion Team A’s Aryanna in a superb display of skill” spoke the announcer as the challengers were teleported to their team’s watchtowers.

“Don’t listen to what they’re saying Aryanna, you won the minute you put the bastard Arthur in his place in my eye girl” said Dayna as she gave Aryanna a massive hug while inside the watchtower, “Thanks Dayna, it’s just frustrating that Genzo was able to pull the wool over my eyes like that” replied Aryanna, pouting slightly from being fooled so easily.  
“Now that the first challenge is out of the way, it’s time for the single combat section for today” announced one of the presenters, gaining the attention of everyone in the room as they watched the screen to find out who’d face who in the arena, “This is where two people from different teams will be pitted against each other in a thirty-minute brawl to show off their abilities to the watching Defenders” explained the other presenter before a list appeared on screen.

“We have several exciting matches lined up for the duration of the week with singles running for the first five days, doubles on the sixth and the final day will be a team brawl” explained the announcer, “Now for today’s matches, we have an exciting lot lined up for you all today are here’s the list; match one will be Erza from Orion B verses Senlan from Rassilon Institute. Match two will have Smaug from Dangór College verses Mëda of the Umbra Coven. Match three has Hakoom of Talon Noir facing off against Mordrëd of Ryse Academy and the fourth and final match of today will be Rin of Orion A facing Ruji from Tenshi Academy” spoke the other announcer as the names began appearing on the screen in the order of the matches. There was a small buzz on the announcement system inside the watchtower before Jocasta’s voice could be heard, “The matches will begin in about an hour, would all teams please make their way to their booths in the arena”

The arena was absolutely packed with people, all of them coming to see this year’s Defenders Tournament which has been a magnificent spectacle in the previous years. High in the stands was the group of Principles from each of the participating Academies; Paarthurnax from Tenrou, Ares from Ryse Academy, Rassilon was there representing his Institute, Wanda from Umbra Coven, Faust from Tenshi Academy, Paarthurnax’s younger brother Alduin from Dangór College and the enigmatic Geist from the Talon Noir. The crowds were cheering their lungs out as the first match between Erza Sigma of Orion B and Senlan from Rassilon Institute was about to begin. Erza and Senlan each walked out of the openings to the arena at the opposite ends, both with faces harden and ready for combat. Erza was wearing the same combat attire that she wore during the Godkiller Assault, leather corset and braces with battle skirt over black leggings and white scarf wrapped round her neck. Senlan’s attire mainly consisted of a red and gold sleeveless waistcoat with black baggy trousers and curved red shoes and red arm warmers. Her black hair was tied up into a tight bun atop her head.  
“Alright then ladies, this match will take up entire arena so don’t feel constricted in your attacks” explained the referee who was a small gnome-looking person, “You have 30 minutes to defeat your opponent, if you are still standing after the 30-minute match then the match will put down to a draw and the points will be split between the teams”  
Both Erza and Senlan simply nodded their head in understanding before taking a few paces back from the centre, “Good luck to you Senlan” said Erza from her side with the intention of making this a friendly fight. Senlan simply scoffed at Erza’s friendship, “I don’t need luck from the likes of you. I will avenge my one true love by ridding both you and that cursed brother of yours from this existence”

Both Orion teams were stunned silent from what had just spilled from Senlan’s mouth. Aryanna sneaked a worried glance as Azrael walked up to the edge of their booth, his face neutral as he cupped his hands round his mouth and yelled, “Beat the crap outta her Erza, she got nothing on you!” Erza had lowered her head slightly so her fringe was hiding her face from Senlan. As the clock began its final decent into the start of the match, “Don’t worry Azrael I’m going to enjoy beating his one into her third regeneration” said Erza as she lifted her head to stare at Senlan with the intent to kill. Yellow energy began rolling off Erza while red energy surged off Senlan as the final stretch in the countdown struck zero and the first match was under way.

No one dared moved a muscle as the energy dissipated from the two women and the fighting between them began. Both leaping at the other and clashing in the middle of the arena, sending gusts of wind from their connecting fists.  
“Barenziah” summoned Erza as a large, blue armoured Titan appeared behind her with six wings and armed with a sword that he thrust downwards into Senlan and the arena. “Vishtaar” summoned Senlan as a six-armed warrior with three heads and multiple swords on his back in the shape of the sun appeared behind her and blocked the downward thrusting sword from Barenziah with its own sword, leaving them in a deadlock for superiority.  
“I’m going to enjoy humiliating you in front of everyone and then I’ll avenge my love Magnus by going after that runt you call a brother” threatened Senlan but Erza was having none of it as she channelled her rage into Barenziah who broke the deadlock and sent Senlan and Vishtaar flying into the arena wall, “The only person going to be humiliated on this day will be your sorry behind for threatening someone very important to me” said Erza in an eerily clam manner as she began marching towards the human sized crater in the wall.

The rest of the battle effectively was a one-sided blood bath as everyone once again learned the cold, harsh truth; never threaten Azrael in front of Erza. Despite putting up a considerable fight against the demonic sibling, Senlan and her Inferno Titan Vishtaar were defeated and the points went to Erza and Orion B.  
“You’ve been quiet ever since they announced you were facing off against that Ruji character, you going to be okay Rin?” asked Dayna as the second fight was underway. To be frank, Rin hadn’t been himself ever since the team from Tenshi Academy had arrived, he was more reclusive and when pressed him to open up about it, he would simply avoid the question with a false smile and go onto something else. Ever since it was revealed that Rin would be facing against Ruji, Rin had been as silent as the grave trudging behind everyone and Syrian had mentioned to Orion A that he had been having nightmares about something he wouldn’t admit to her.  
“This is about that night at the Tenshi Exam, isn’t it?” asked Azrael, for the first time today, Rin stopped looking at his palms and stared directly into Azrael’s miscoloured eyes. The booth was silent, on one daring interrupt the intense staring contest between the two until Azrael sighed through his nose, “Aryanna would you please inform us when it’s time for Rin to head for his match?” asked Azrael, “We’ve got some ground to cover before his match” and just like that, Azrael had Rin up on his feet and escorted him out the booth.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Day one is underway, next chapter is going to focus on the history of Rin as I've yet to divulge into that messy past of his. Going to try and get the next chapter out faster than this so please be patient devoted readers :3


	21. Battle of Belief: Rin Vs. Ruji

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The first match has ended and soon it will be Rin's turn to face his past in the form of his former best friend Ruji. Can Rin face his past demons? Or will he be swallowed up by them and cost the team their victory

“Why are you bringing me all the way out here?” questioned Rin for the umpteenth time and just like the others, Azrael ignored him and kept on walking to a spare training room in the gym. Once Azrael found one, he threw Rin into it before coming in himself and locking the door behind him, “We’re going to have some last-minute training before your match with Ruji” explained Azrael as he turned to face Rin, “What do you mean?” questioned Rin as Azrael stood there, arms folded and holding a stern look in his eye, Rin assumed from the comment Senlan made earlier.   
“When I discovered my Dragónian heritage, I was so terrified by the destruction that I could cause that I refused to even leave my room” explained Azrael which came as a shock to Rin, what with Erza telling everyone how Azrael was always this little ball of never-ending energy.   
Seeing the shocked look on Rin’s face, Azrael decided to clarify, “Back then, the only person that knew about this fear was my elder brother Magnus. I’m betting my grandfather knew about it as well but opted to stay out of it as it gave me and Magnus something to connect with. Magnus taught me that if I show fear in using my own abilities then how would I be able to reach my full potential, and so we trained together in secret where I learned that there was nothing to fear from using my Dragónian powers” finished Azrael as he moved his hand to gesture towards Rin, “Which is why we are here. I’m going to do for you what Magnus done for me and help you understand and control the power of your soulsword”   
Rin was silent for a while, Azrael assumed he was mentally thinking about his training proposal but remained quiet as Rin mulled it over inside his head.   
“Do you know the reason why I never use my soulsword?” asked Rin to Azrael who remained silent, meaning he didn’t which led to Rin sighing heavily, “I suppose I’ll have to start with my time at the Tenshi Academy. The place is very much the same as Tenrou Academy, save of students having to choose one of five professions to major in being joining the Crusade; there was Knight, Conjurer, Rouge, Binder and Artificer. You can probably already tell that I was aiming for the Knight profession and was joint top of my class alongside the person who was once my best friend; you’ll known him as Ruji”  
With this revelation, it all became clear to Azrael to why Rin had been so quiet about his match. He wasn’t just anxious about facing his old school, he was anxious about facing a former friend to whom he had once trusted completely.  
“In order to progress in Tenshi Academy; students are given the task of hunting and killing a captured demon provided by the Crusade. On the night of the progression exam the demon escaped, and my class was set the task of dealing with it. As you can imagine, we were in over our heads and the demon ended up proving to be too much for our class” continued Rin as Azrael began putting the pieces together to what happened between Rin and the Tenshi Academy.  
“You used the soulsword for the first time and defeated the demon, but without any previous experience using it, you lost control and went on a rampage” finished Azrael which left Rin in silence as he nodded his head in shame, “After that, they refused to even look at me as the Crusade dragged me off somewhere to be executed for having Oni blood in me. It was only during the execution did Paarthurnax appear and persuade the Crusade to have me transferred to Tenrou Academy, but since that night I have refused to summon the cursed soulsword” spat Rin, still staring down at the floor in shame.   
He was rather surprised to feel a hand rest upon his shoulder and squeeze it affectionately, looking up; Rin saw Azrael staring down at him with a look of knowing on his face, reminding Rin that Azrael probably went through the something similar back on Gallifrey, “What happened that night has got nothing to do with your heritage. The fault lies with the Tenshi Crusade and their blind faith with their old traditions which forced you to hide you potential” said Azrael as he helped Rin to his feet.  
“Now then, for this crash training I’m going to have to see this soulsword of yours” said Azrael, quickly shifting from his friendly demeanour to something more serious and professional. Knowing that there’d be no worming his way out of this, Rin bit his left thumb enough to draw blood and smeared down the palm of his right hand. The smear then combusted into flames as a black hilt was thrust out of the flames by Rin who caught it with the same hand it just shot out of. The flames from Rin’s hand spread up the hilt until they formed the shape of a sword, to which Rin flicked off the sword.  
“This is my soulsword known as Blackheart” said Rin as he handed the soulsword over to Azrael to inspect it, “That sword has been passed down from father to son in my family since the formation of the Tenshi Crusade” explained Rin as Azrael went about his inspection. Azrael noted that the sword was completely black, with demonic symbols that covered the first quarter of the blade from the hilt, “I recognise these symbols” said Azrael as he inspected the symbols on the blade, “They’re Asgardian binding wards, judging from the number of wards the soul imprisoned in here must be powerful” explained Azrael as he brushed his hand over the four symbols on the sword.  
“I’m guessing that’s what happened during the incident you were talking about, you were back into a corner and so used this soulsword and dealt a decisive blow to the demon, the soulsword merged a piece of the trapped soul within, and therefore some of its features, with your own” said Azrael as he handed back Rin Blackheart, “The wards are still preventing the full extent of the soul’s power from being used however, I’m going to be teaching you the basics in tapping into the power you already possess before you match with Ruji” said Azrael as he drew Muramasa from its sheath on back of his waist.

The match after Erza’s against Senlan had been predictable to say the least, Smaug has been overconfident in his Dragónian abilities that it was easy for the witch Mëda to enrage him and deal some major damage. Eventually, the match ended with Mëda walking away with a victory for the Umbra Coven and the third match between the Technomancer Hakoom from Talon Noir and Mordrëd Hamura of Ryse Academy. Hakoom wore a closed black leather jacket with what appeared to have blue neon trimmings and light grey jeans, he wore a large data pad on his left wrist and had a large blade strapped to his back. Mordrëd wore a basic grey plain tee with black trousers, boots and metal arm guards, a strange feature was that the top half of Mordrëd’s face was covered by a white, bird shaped mask. Aryanna was about to head out to find Azrael and Rin to tell them to start heading back when they walked through the booth’s entrance.  
“Was just going to get you guys and say get back here, everything alright then?” asked Aryanna as she inspected the two, finding a few scraps here and there but nothing serious from Azrael’s last-minute training session.  
“Nothing too serious and looks like we made it back in plenty of time” replied Azrael with a knowing smile shared with Rin, making Aryanna believe that whatever Azrael had done with Rin seemed to have worked for the better. Knowing she’ll get a full explanation from Azrael later, Aryanna let the two past her and they went to watch the match between Hakoom and Mordrëd get underway.

The match was an interesting one to say the least. Hakoom used his Technomancer abilities to create digitised creatures as well as weaponry for himself to use against Mordrëd, while Mordrëd’s movements spoke to everyone that he was simply bored of this match. Taking minimal effort in dispatching the digi-creatures with nothing more than a simple Tantō, Mordrëd easily overpower Hakoom and won the match for Ryse Academy.  
“Now for our final match, we have Rin Fujimoto of Orion A going up against Ruji Gōremu of the Tenshi Academy Team” spoke the announcer as Rin and Ruji took to their stations at either end of the arena, “The looks these two are sending each other speaks volumes of a mysterious history between them, which only makes this even more exciting” the audience seemed to think so as they cheered for the fourth and final match of the day. Ruji was the first of the two to make a move, summoning a large golem fist from the ground but Rin saw this coming and leapt into the air as the Golem fist smashed into the ground where he was standing just moments ago.

Watching the game of dodge the giant golem hand from their booth, Azrael was starting to wonder if Rin was truly ready to face his past in such a manner. He could hear Arthur and Nem of the Tenshi Academy rooting for Ruji, telling him to finish of the demon that fooled them all but there was something about Ruji that Azrael couldn’t quite place yet.  
“This is horrible, I thought you said the last-minute training you help him?” asked Aryanna, also listening to the comments the other team were making. Azrael didn’t reply to her question as they continued to watch their friend and teammate get bounced about the arena like a ragdoll.

Eventually Ruji uncrossed his arms and stretched his palm out towards where Rin was dodging Golem parts. This gesture suddenly had the Golem parts moving at a faster rate then what they previously and they managed to encase Rin in a fist, before slamming him into the arena floor in a massive heap of rocks.  
“This looks to be the end for Rin in what appears to be a very one-sided match” spoke the commentator as Ruji turned his back without speaking a single word and walking away from the pile of rocks covering Rin. Suddenly, there was a rush of warm air from the pile of rocks as they started crumbling to give way to something giving off high levels of heat. Rin emerged from the pile of rocks, but his appearance had change somewhat; he had grown slightly while his hair was now set ablaze with two large black horns from the sides of his forehead that joined in the middle. Turning to face Ruji, Rin lifted Blackheart which was suddenly missing one of the wards, meaning Rin had access to more of the trapped soul’s power.  
“You now face the reborn king of the fire demons, Surtur of Muspelheim” boomed Rin with a much deeper voice than normal. Ruji had barely any time to react as Rin suddenly lunged for him, embers and rocks flew as the fire demon and golems clashed again and again, neither one showing any sign of backing down. 

Although it looked as if Rin would win the fight, he collapsed in exhaustion before landing the finishing blow. Due to Rin being unable to continue the fight, the match was won be Ruji of the Tenshi Team, concluding the first day of the Defenders Tournament. While waiting to hear about Rin in the waiting room, the gang suddenly found themselves in the company of Ruji which put them slightly on edge.  
“Relax you lot, Ruji is here on my behalf so he can listen in on what I have to say about Rin” said Paarthurnax as he entered the room, motioning for Ruji to take a seat so he could tell them what needed to be heard, “To begin with, Rin is Asgardian not a demon” began Paarthurnax, “When he was born, Rin was so frail that his father, Baldar, was afraid a small breeze would be enough to do him in. So, he used the fullest extent of the Asgardian Archives to find a way to help Rin but found nothing” While everyone was surprised to learn that Rin was in fact a frail Asgardian, Azrael snuck a glance at Ruji to see that he had a look of shame on his face.  
“Rin’s father tried everything to help his son overcome his frail condition but with every attempt, Rin’s condition only worsened to the point that Baldar could only think one thing that could save his son; the Eternal Flame of Muspelheim. Knowing that Surtur wouldn’t part willing with a piece of the Eternal Flame, Baldar decided the best way to help Rin was to create a bond between his son and the Fire Demon King himself and created a soulsword using a part of Rin’s soul” continued Paarthurnax as he lifted Blackheart to inspect the ruins decorating the sword.  
“This sword was thrust into the Eternal Flame by Baldar, thus Surtur and Rin’s souls were melded into one with Surtur’s power being held in place by the ruins on the soulsword” finished Paarthurnax as he lowered Blackheart and scanned the silent faces of his students in front of him. Ruji was silent as he hugged his head in his hands, no doubt feeling either guilt or relief, Paarthurnax couldn’t tell. The others were still digesting the sudden information load they had received when Thane walked through the infirmary doors, “He’s recovered from the strain and is awake if you all wish to go in and see him” informed Thane as Azrael, Syrian, Benn and a reluctant Ruji decided it was bets that only a few would go inside and report back to the rest when finished.

Inside the small infirmary room, the group found Rin sat up in the bed facing out the window watching the world go by. Hearing the door open, Rin turned to face the three faces in the door and smiled sadly at them as they entered the room, but the smile dropped when he saw Ruji.  
“What are you doing here? Come to rub salt in the wounds?” demanded Rin, wincing as he tried to sit up but was gently held in place by Syrian, “I’m actually here to apologise about what my teammates were saying to you during today’s fight and also to let you know that I regret not being by your side when the problems at Tenshi Academy arose” replied Ruji, refusing to look Rin in the eye as he continued his apology rant for everything that happened at Tenshi, “All I want is my best friend back but I can understand if you never want anything to do with me again” finished Ruji when he felt an unexpected pillow connect with his bowed head. Looking up while rubbing his head, Ruji was met with a pouting Rin  
“You really are still just an idiot without a clue, aren’t you?” said Rin as Ruji remained quiet and surprised by sudden pillow, “You never stopped being my best friend Ruji, I understand why you weren’t there when the problem as Tenshi Academy arose but to think that I would hate you for what you believe is the icing on the cake” scolded Rin before motioning the others to leave, “Me and this twat have got some catching up to do so I’ll see you guys later” said Rin as Azrael, Benn and Syrian left the two to catch up on what they had missed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> First day is over and now we're heading deeper into the Tournament, wonder if anyone can guess some of the future fights I've got planned for this Tournament...


	22. Battle of Monsters: Azrael Vs. Tarlak

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Day two of the Defenders Tournament has friend pitted against friend in the form of Azrael vs. Tarlak! But with Tarlak's history looming over him like a dark cloud, who will win this battle of monsters?

April 12th, 2255

It was day two of the Defenders Tournament, this time there was no challenge in the morning, so it was straight into the matches. First match had Narzor of Team Rassilon against Kairu of Team Dangór, the match was easily won by Wyn after Narzor made the stupid bet of taking Kairu out for a date if she lost. The second match between Lumer of Team Umbra and Nem of Team Tenshi was almost over, Lumer was using his angelic feathers to distract Nem while striking him with his double-edge spear.  
“Really hate to be up against that guy” said Johnson from the Orion A booth, he had been swapped in due to Rin still being out of commission from his match with Ruji who had been to see his friend and they were rekindling their friendship. Pretty soon the match was over and Lumer had won the match for Team Umbra, which came to the third match of the day; Azrael vs Tarlak. 

While heading for the arena, Azrael spotted Tarlak just in front of him and was about to wish him luck in their fight when he realised that Tarlak was speaking what appeared to be another Martian.  
“You understand what this means don’t you?” asked the mystery Martian with Tarlak saying nothing but nodding in agreement to whatever they were discussing. The woman spotted Azrael in the distance and decided to take her leave, “What was that all about?” asked Azrael while watching the woman walk off to wherever she was headed.  
“It was nothing more than my past coming back to me” replied Tarlak in a slightly sad tone that made Azrael even more worried for his Martian friend, “But that’ll have to wait for another time. Come we have a match to prepare for and may the best win” smiled Tarlak as he embraced Azrael in a friendly hug before departing for his arena entrance. 

“Now it’s time for the match you have all been waiting for” announced the announcer on the intercom system, “we have lined up for you a fight between friends in the form of Azrael Sigma of Orion A against Tarlak Markeed of Orion B” the crowds were cheering loudly as Tarlak and Azrael took to the arena, right up until the bell rang to signal the start of the match; then silence. Azrael was the first to act, drawing Muramasa and charging Tarlak but Tarlak responded quickly, drawing North Star and plunging the sword into the ground to create a wall of ice and deflected Azrael initial assault.  
“Reaction time is as good as ever Tarlak” said Azrael but was slightly put off when Tarlak wouldn’t respond to the compliment and rather avoided making eye contact all together, “What’s up with you? Is this something to do with whatever that hooded figure said to you?” This got a response out of Tarlak as his face twitched with anger before lifting North Star out of the ground and charging for Azrael, “What do you know of that?!” yelled Tarlak as he continued to swing his sword around like a madman, giving Azrael little time to dodge let alone answer. It looked like it was all over when Azrael stumbled and fell to the ground with Tarlak thrusting his sword for his gut when the sword just phased right through Azrael.  
“What trickery is this?” questioned Tarlak but rather than answer him, Azrael rested his palm on the ground, “tres equitum” Azrael chanted as three summoning circles appeared around them and from each circle rose an identical Knight Familiar. Unable to fend off the three Familiars at once in his position, Tarlak was forced to disengage and take a few steps back from Azrael and regain a level head.  
“Whatever you heard in that conversation Az, chances are that it is true” said Tarlak as Azrael dispelled his Familiars from the field, leaving him and Tarlak alone on the field once again, “Tarlak whatever is happening with you and your family, we can help you” said Azrael but Tarlak simply shook his head with a sad smile on his face.  
“I thank you for the offer my friend, but this is something that I must face on my own but for now let’s make our last battle something to remember” said Tarlak, “Let’s show everyone how the monsters do battle” 

Azrael didn’t have to be telepathic to know what Tarlak meant by that, so he began his drákification while Tarlak surrounded himself in large ice-like crystals. Azrael assumed the now familiar form of his drákified state as Tarlak emerged from the crystals, his once green skin was now more of a dull grey while dark blue ice crystals covered his arms and protruded from his shoulders. With both sides now in their monstrous forms, the battle of the monsters began anew as they clashed fist on fist with immense power. Spark flew from the clashing between North Star and Muramasa along with chunks of ice from Tarlak’s cryomancer powers and embers from Azrael’s dragon breath littered the arena as Tarlak used his tactical mind to counter everything Azrael threw at him with equal force.  
“Must admit that fighting you is turning out to be more fun that I thought it’d be” said Azrael with Tarlak chortling with agreement to the statement, but time was of the essence and Azrael wasn’t yet finished with this fight and he’d be damned if he didn’t give it his all. Sheathing Muramasa, Azrael reached for the larger sword on his back, “I call upon your majesty to vanquish the darkness in this hour of need” muttered Azrael as he unsheathed Pendragon and was enveloped in a bright light.

“So, the rumours are true, he has both Swords of the Draak King” said Arachnia to Anzu as they watched the fight from the Talon Noir booth, Anzu had remained silent as he quietly wondered if this had been factored into the Master’s plan. He had been doing as ordered and befriended the enemy, but what he hadn’t thought about was these strange feelings that he felt towards some of them. During his life on Krona, Anzu never had time to foster anything as remote as emotions, it was always one war after another and his race found such emotions to be weakness. Looking over towards Genzo and Dusk, Anzu began to wonder what their reaction will be when he finds out what they had done.

Back on the battlefield, the light began to dim as Azrael emerged now clad in strange white armour and holding Pendragon in both hands. Realising that his friend was going all out in this fight, Tarlak furthered his transformation by growing his tail and producing more ice crystals, “You did say this was a battle of monsters” said Azrael as he and Tarlak began circling one another in heated suspense, “Then may the best monster win” replied Tarlak before charging Azrael and clashing swords once again with his friend. During their latest clash, Azrael pressed his palm against Tarlak’s abdomen and said, “Repellere” which had Tarlak suddenly finding himself flying away from Azrael and into the arena wall with a large thud.  
“Sanctum Gladium” said Azrael as Pendragon began to charge with Titanforce, meaning he was going to end this fight in this final attack. Tarlak knew this and began charging strange energy into North Star before charging Azrael one last time. If you had blinked, then you would have missed the final clash between Azrael and Tarlak with neither side moving an inch from their positions. As the armour around Azrael disappeared and his drákified form reverted to normal, he was forced to thrust Pendragon into the ground to keep himself from falling over. Turning back to face Tarlak, they both shared a smile before Tarlak fell forwards and crashed face first into the ground; signalling Azrael’s win of the match.

While Tarlak was taken away to the infirmary for a more thorough examination and Azrael could return to the booth after Thane gave him a quick rundown. Upon his arrival in the booth, Azrael was immediately set upon by a worried looking Aryanna.  
“That was quite the spectacle you gave us out there” said Johnson as he came up to pat Azrael’s shoulder, “Love to see how the final match is going to top something like that” added Emrys as they all joined him and Dayna in watching the final match between Gren of Team Ryse and Arachnia of Team Talon. While watching Arachnia dodge Gren’s attacks, Aryanna got a strange feeling that she had seen those movements somewhere before but couldn’t quite but her finger on it as Arachnia used some weird fighting technique to paralyse Gren’s arms and one of his legs, making him unable to continue and winning the match for Team Talon.

With the matches now out of the way, the gang decided that they should go and check in and see how Tarlak was doing. While on their way to the room Tarlak was in, they were suddenly confronted with Tarlak being escorted by two large Martian guards, the mystery Martian Azrael had seen talking to Tarlak before the match and none other than the Martian Queen herself.  
“What do you think you are doing?” demanded Amir to the Martians escorting Tarlak from the hospital, “You have no business in the affair of the Martian Royal Family, please stand aside or face the same fate as this traitor” boomed one of the Martian Guards as they aimed their staffs at the group standing before them. “Come now there mustn’t be any need for such brutality” spoke the Queen as she stepped forwards, “Apologies for my guards, my name is Queen Iraxxa Markeed of the Martian Colonies and we are here to detain the murderer of our beloved Prince Tarlak” spoke the Queen, leaving the group mightily surprised of what was transpiring.  
“I already told you my Queen that the events are not as simple as you would think, if you would please give me the courtesy of explaining what happened then I will follow whatever action you deem appropriate” said Tarlak as he looked apologetically to the group of his closest friends, “They also need to know the truth, I am done hiding the shame of this burden” Iraxxa was silent as she weighed the option before nodding in agreement, “Very well, you will be given this one chance to explain yourself to myself and your friends here” as she prompted the guards to escort them all to somewhere more private to have this conversation.

The guards took them to a waiting room that was currently unoccupied before stationing themselves at the entrance to ensure they were not to be disturbed. Everyone was silent as they waited for Tarlak to explain himself to them and Queen Iraxxa.  
“I guess I should start by saying that I am not even of the Martian Colonies, I am in fact what you may call the last Pavonian, beautiful creatures made of ice crystals that once roamed the Pavonis Mountains on the outskirts of the Martian Colonies. It was during one of the colony uprising that my village became under siege by rogue Martian groups, they slaughtered everyone in their path with myself as the sole survivor. It was during that time that I was stumbled upon by King Slaar who felt responsible for what happened to my village” explained Tarlak, refusing to look anywhere except his own two hands in front of him.  
“Prince Tarlak however was not as kind to me. He gave me the name Kukaan, meaning nothing in the Martian tongue, and subjugated me to various hardships and attempted to make my life a living hell. However, despite all the hardships he caused, I held nothing but respect for Tarlak and the love that the people of the Martian Colonies gave him. During a trip through the Tundra Wastes, we were ambushed by several armed mercenaries, that turned out to be hired by Tarlak in attempts to bolster his status among the Colonies while shunning me for acts of treason. Of course, the mercenaries had never dealt with a Pavonian before so were easy for me to overpower but amid the fighting, Tarlak was caught in the crossfire and became gravely injured. I knew that Tarlak had wanted to charge myself with acts of treason and that if I ever returned to the Colonies then that plan would have worked, so I was forced to do the alternative. You see, Pavonians have the unique ability to camouflage themselves to appear as any species they come into contact with, so I assumed the form and name of Tarlak to ensure that I would bring honour to a once spoilt and unworthy child of the Martian crown” finished 'Tarlak', refusing to even look at the Martian Queen who had remained silent during the entire story. The entire waiting area was deathly silent from the story that 'Tarlak' had just told them all, the group were feeling a range of emotions; anger against the real Tarlak for what he had done to their kind friend and sadness that Kukaan was the last known member of his race.  
“So what if he had anything to do with the real Tarlak’s death. From what we know is that the real Tarlak was an arrogant weasel that say our friend here as nothing more than a trophy and a means to increase his status, not very honourable if you ask me” said Azrael in a deathly calm tone, making even the Queen done a double take on what was being said, “If anything, this guy right here is a better Tarlak than the one that came before him. His passion for the Martian Colonies and drive to see them prosper is something to be admired and encourage rather than squandered by dishonourable acts” During Azrael’s outburst, Tarlak was sat with shock completely written across his face that Azrael would be defending him against what he had accepted a long time ago. Azrael looked like he was about to argue more with Iraxxa when she raised her hand to signal for silence.  
“I thank you for you input grandson of Rassilon, your argument has weighed heavily on my mind along with the matter of the Pavonian’s side of the story. I understand that Tarlak wasn’t the most honourable of the Martians and even sought to abuse his power in efforts of increasing his status amongst the people, but he was still my son” spoke Iraxxa as she eyed Azrael down, silently forcing him to hold his tongue until she was finished, “However, in the years following the events of the Tundra Wastes; the people’s views of Tarlak did change for the better. In the end, the Pavonian proved that he was in fact a better Prince than the boy he was impersonating, and we only wish that Tarlak prove that he is in fact a better person than the one that came before him” At this, Tarlak shot up to show his face completely covered in shock by Iraxxa’s decree to see her smiling at him in a way that only a mother could.  
“What does the king say of this?” asked Tarlak as the hooded figure stepped forward and lowered their hood; revealing the face of King Slaar himself, “Why it was my idea to begin with boy. Did you really think that your ploy was going to fool those who had put up with Tarlak’s arrogance the longest? We knew the minute you returned from the Tundra Wastes but didn’t want to act unless we had proof that you were going to use Tarlak’s face and name form malicious intent” revealed Slaar, earning a defeated look from Tarlak as his disguise was seen through once again.  
“You are a member of the Martian Royal Family Tarlak, you were never in any danger from us my boy” said Slaar as he embraced Tarlak in a bone crushing hug similar the infamous hugs Tarlak was known for.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The truth has been revealed! Talrak's history has been uncovered and finally a fight between teammates, hope you had fun reading this as much as I did writing it!


	23. Calm Before the Storm: Aryanna Vs. Arachnia

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Third day of the Tournament sees faith being put to the test as new suspicions on Talon Noir come to light! Can the gang put the pieces together in time for whatever is on the horizon?

April 12th, 2255

While Tarlak and his family were busy chatting away in the quartered off waiting area, the group felt that they hadn’t really hung out as friends ever since the start of the Tournament and so decided to do just that and spend the remaining afternoon in the city having some much-needed fun. They all agreed to meet in the main hall in an hour and when they got up to leave, mentioned the plan to Tarlak if he wanted to join them.

An hour later and Azrael, Benn, Aryanna, Amir, Erza, Rin, Aztek, Quartz, Dayna all appeared in the main hall, with Azrael holding Benn’s hand and Rin still bandaged up from his fight with Ruji who had been brought along by Rin to meet his friends. They waited a while to see if anyone else would join them, with Johnson, Emrys, while waiting Gren and Kat walked past and pondered on what they were doing before joining them and finally Tarlak made a surprising appearance, “Couldn’t have you all celebrating without me, now could I?” said Tarlak as the amassed group of friends took their leave of the school grounds to enjoy the late afternoon together.  
First stop for the group of course was the cake café to acquire some cake for Erza who had threatened anyone who stood between her and the sweet dessert with a painful existence. Much to groups surprise, Kat was also a cake lover and quickly turned a peaceful time at the café into a heated food fight between her and Erza over dominance on the self-made title of Cake Queen. 

“Still can’t believe you almost got us thrown out of there” grumbled Azrael to Erza who appeared unfazed as her face beamed with pride in defeating her ‘Cake Rival’ in a fight that almost destroyed the café, “Oh lighten up little brother, we’re out here to have fun and what’s more fun that a playful bout amongst friends?” replied Erza as Azrael deadpanned his response, “A playful bout does not mean burying everyone at the table in a mini mountain of icing and then proceeding to smack cake in the waitresses face”  
While the siblings bickered about the definition of fun, Amir noticed that Gren had been quiet since leaving the Academy and decided to investigate.  
“You seemed troubled” said Amir to Gren as they brought up the rear of the group, “Does it have anything to do with you fight with Talon Noir?” When Gren flinched, it confirmed Amir’s suspicions and rested her hand on his shoulder in support.  
“It was just the way that woman moved on the battlefield was almost like she wasn’t interested in fighting me at all” said Gren quietly as Amir listened to the problems Gren was having, “Yes, I must admit that there has been something off with that particular team” pondered Amir, “They have skills that you wouldn’t normally expect from Academy students and their styles are cunning and borderline ruthless” as they continued their walk, Amir and Gren shared their suspicions about the Talon Noir Team but decided not to act on them without having anything more solid against them.

April 13th, 2255

“Alright then folks it’s time to continue with today’s challenge of Facing the Odds” announced the commentator as the familiar cheer of the crowds echoed through the arena, “For those just joining, this challenge is quite straight forward; each participant is aiming to defeat as many Talon clones within a time frame, the one with the most defeated clones will win today’s challenge” explained the other announcer as the participants stood in a line at the edge of the arena facing the one hundred Talon clones.  
Currently, the score stood with Blake of Orion B in the lead with 65, Klidak of Team Rassilon on 50 and Dynos of Team Ryse at 46 and up next was Team Talon’s participant known only as Dusk. Dusk kept his attire simple, black leather jacket and trousers with red lining. Black skull gauntlets on each arm that hid in them long red blades and his face was covered by a black demon’s skull that only showed his gleaming red eyes with blonde hair flowing down to his mid back and two bangs past his shoulders.  
While watching Dusk’s turn against the clones, Azrael and Erza both felt as if they had seen this person in combat before. They both got the feeling that they knew this person from somewhere but couldn’t act on these feelings as they had yet to see Dusk’s face. The limit was reached with Dusk defeating a whopping 88 clones as he quietly joined the others that had already taken the challenge.  
Katiana was next and tried her best using her magics but was only able to defeat 35 before being overwhelmed by the number of clones. Igor of Team Tenshi had more luck than the others, due to his hulking mass he was able to withstand more of the assaulting clones and managed to score a solid 40, leaving Johnson to be the last one to face off against the Talon clones.  
“No pressure, am I right?” muttered Johnson as Emperious roared in laughter at his partner’s anxiousness, “You will be fine son of Franklin, it is time for you to show everyone the power that you now hold” Johnson had to admit that Emperious did have a valid point; up until now he had only been in reserve but now he could finally show off the fruits of his training. Taking to the arena, Johnson took to the arena with a calm demeanour and countered the clones with grace that rivaled a ballerina's, easily dispatching several clones using only his combat skills. When the clones began to be more challenging, Johnson switched things up and started to use his wrist gauntlets along with his tonfas until time finally ran out with Johnson scoring an incredible 90 earning Orion A yet another victory. 

“That was brilliant Johnson” praised Dayna as the team went down to congratulate Johnson and Blake for their performance in the challenge, Johnson was so overwhelmed by the praise that he couldn’t stop grinning while rubbing the back of his head, “You know it was nothing really” he replied as Aryanna simply scoffed at his response, “Never thought I’d see the day when you would start being modest Johnny. Nobody pinch me cause this is one dream I refuse to wake up from” said Aryanna, getting a laugh out of everyone present, save for Azrael and Erza who were too busy in their own mewling to hear the joke.  
“Tenrou to wonder twins, come in wonder twins” said Emrys to the silent siblings, jolting them out of their musing and into the present, “Sorry guys kinda spaced out again, didn’t we?” replied Azrael while rubbing the back of his head and laughing awkwardly.  
“Did it happen to be anything with the member of Talon Noir?” asked Amir suddenly, leaving the siblings and most of the present group rather surprised at Amir’s accusation, “Actually it did have something to do with Dusk” said Erza who shared a knowing glance with Azrael before continuing, “His movements spoke of someone who had been in conflict before, something that isn’t seen if at all in academy students” informed Erza, “There was something else about them, it felt as if I knew the person under that mask” added Azrael, leaving the group in a sombre mood while trying to figure out what to make of these findings.  
“Yesterday, when we left the café, I spoke to Gren who also felt that his opponent from Talon Noir was in fact bored of the fight and seemed almost uninterested in the entire Tournament” revealed Amir to the group, adding to the sombre mood. The silence was broken by the sudden snorting coming from an unsuspecting source; Aryanna.  
“You all are so quick to judge the Talon Noir team without even considering the fact that this academy is relatively new in comparison to the likes of Ryse Academy or even our own. The way they move and fight is probably from their years of survival without an academy to find shelter” argued Aryanna as she glared at everyone in the room, daring them to challenge her otherwise logical statement.  
“That may be the case Aryanna, but you have to understand that doesn’t excuse the weird feelings that myself, Azrael and Erza have when watching the members in action” said Amir, trying to have Aryanna see her way but Aryanna was having none of it.  
“I’ll have you know that, although I have not met his team, Anzu has told me nothing but kind things about them, so I’ll be damned if I’m going to stand here and listen to you all be critical to people that you know nothing about” argued Aryanna before storming off to find somewhere to clear her head and cool off.

After the interval that sparked the heated argument over the Talon Noir team, the fights of Day Three were underway. First match had Aztek from Orion B against John Smith of the Umbra Team, John wore a simply white shirt, black jeans and buttoned up waist coat while his face wore a constant look of both tiredness and boredom with messy blonde mop of hair that spoke of little sleep. Aztek ended up winning the fight due to John’s lack of trying, and the fact that since he was Sephrenian and drew his powers from both the sun and from John’s fire based spells.  
“Alright then, here’s hoping that this next fight will be less anti-climactic than it predecessor’s” said the announcer, “For the next match we have Aryanna Lundar of Orion A pitted against the deadly Arachnia of Team Talon” Aryanna remained silent as she walked onto the arena, deciding to use her anger at her friends and channel it into her fight with Arachnia.  
Arachnia didn’t need her psychic senses to know that Aryanna had something troubling her mind, she inwardly smirked as the master’s plan was working better than she had hoped. She knew that there was doubts amongst the other teams in regard to the skill level of Talon Noir and this was causing a rift to form between them. Arachnia knew that the prince was having mixed feeling as he got know Aryanna and her friends but was confident that, when it came to the next phase of the mission, the prince would do what was needed.

Amir was worried for her friend as she took to the arena to battle Arachnia. She knew that their accusations were straw grasping at best, but they still held enough merit to be cautious around Talon Noir. Amir and the other knew that Aryanna and Anzu had become fast friends over the last few months and that she every right to be angry and defend her friend against their ponderings, but the facts were all there and they couldn’t be ignored. Amir just hoped that Aryanna could realise this in time before she got really hurt.

Back on the arena, the fight between Aryanna and Arachnia had begun with a show of hand-to-hand combat skills with neither side speaking a single word as blow were exchanged. Aryanna was known to be quite formidable in her fighting skills, but this Arachnia was on a completely different level than what she was used to. She hated to admit it, but Aryanna was also having doubts about the Talon Noir team and her fight right now with Arachnia was starting to make Amir’s acclaims more plausible with each blow that was blocked and countered.  
“You look troubled by something my dear, could it be that you’re having a hard time against a superior opponent?” taunted Arachnia quietly so that only she and Aryanna could hear her taunts. Scoffing at the remark, Aryanna caught one of Arachnia’s jabs which caught Arachnia off-guard and then proceeded to throw her overhead, “How’s that for inferiority then dear?” replied Aryanna as Arachnia recovered from being thrown and dusted herself off, all the while smiling.  
Aryanna was about to press a question to Arachnia’s unsettling smile when the arm that Aryanna used to throw Arachnia suddenly turned a dark purple and dropped to her side completely numb, “Hope you don’t mind the neurotoxin that I nicked into your arm, it’ll wear off eventually” revealed Arachnia as she stood there, checking her nails, completely unfazed by what just transpired. Anger began bubbling up inside Aryanna as she drew her Totem Sword and summoned her Eatos spirit to give her a boost in speed, but that speed was useless against Arachnia who seemed to know Aryanna’s moves before she even made them.  
“I thought those chosen by the Deities were meant to be powerful warriors” sight Arachnia as she stood over Aryanna, paralysed from the neurotoxin in her system, “Must say that I am disappointed” Aryanna was seething at this point and decided that rather than reign her anger, she would use to as fuel to defeat Arachnia.  
With a few minutes left in the match, Aryanna used her trump card and channelled the energy from Rosetta and the Orb of Temptation in an attempt to give her a fighting chance. The energy surge worked, and the neurotoxin was purged from Aryanna’s system as red petals made of Titanforce began swarming round her. Using the petals as distractions, Aryanna was able to deal some serious damage to Arachnia before bombarding her with the petals and knocking her off the arena and winning the match by the skin of her teeth.

Sighing at the defeat of Arachnia, Anzu turned to the remaining members of Talon Noir, “You know the next phase of the plan” he said as Dusk, Genzo and Hakoom all nodded in silence before disappearing from the booth to destinations unknown while Anzu spared one last glance at the arena but he too departed the booth to an unknown destination. Unbeknownst to Anzu and the other members of Talon Noir; Amir had kept an eye on the Talon Noir booth for most of the match to spot anything to confirm her suspicious. Curious about why they all departed their booth in different directions, Amir decided it best to follow them while entrusting Aryanna's wellbeing to the rest of the team.

As soon as Aryanna was off the arena, she was met by the other teams who had come to check on her, “Seriously guys, I’ll live” said Aryanna as Tarlak and Blake fussed over if she should go to the infirmary or not.  
“I’d also like to apologise to you all for my behaviour earlier today, it was wrong of me to not take your warnings especially after facing against Arachnia. She knew about the Deity Trials, something really is off with her” revealed Aryanna to the others, adding to their suspicions on the Talon Noir team. Erza suggested that they should discuss their findings somewhere safer when Aryanna realised something was amiss, “Have any of you seen Amir?”

To Be Continued...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Gotta love some suspense am I right? The original plan was to have this all done in one chapter but felt that splitting it into parts makes for more drama no?


	24. The Invasion of Tenrou Begins

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Plans have been put into motion as the members of Talon Noir execute their carefully crafted plan. Will the others be able to defend their home from these invaders as well as stay alive?

Amir had stuck to the shadows and had chosen to follow the Talon Noir member known as Genzo who was currently heading towards the Undercroft cells. Genzo knew that he was being followed by someone but paid no attention to that as he came to the cell that he was looking for. The cell was in complete darkness with a shadowy figure hunched in the corner of the room.  
“The time has come for you to complete one final mission” said Genzo to the prisoner sat in the shadows as the prisoner in question turned their head to face Genzo before rising to their feet and shuffled into the light to reveal none other than Kaaba. Lifting his left arm, Genzo shot a laser out of his wrist and began creating an exit for Kaaba to leave his cell from.  
“You might as well come out from there, I knew you were following me from the arena” said Genzo suddenly which startled the just freed Kaaba. Knowing that she had no other alternative in such a narrow passageway, Amir stepped fully into the hallway wielding a double-edged axe. “Must admit that I am surprised that you caught onto us so quickly however, it matters very little to the grant scheme currently unfolding” said Genzo as he slowly unsheathed his smaller sword. Dropping the large axe onto the ground with a thud, Amir threw three symbiote daggers straight for Genzo who sighed before simply deflecting the two of the projectiles with the sword in his hand, with the third tearing through his mask as he backflipped farther down the corridor. When Genzo turned to face Amir, all she could do was gasp in horror to the face that was behind the mask.

Back in the arena, the others were trying to figure out where Amir could have gone when suddenly they spotted Anzu stepping onto the arena with his cutlass drawn, “I challenge the Sigma Siblings to a single combat duel” announced Anzu as he raised a cutlass to point at Azrael and Erza standing up in the booth. Sharing a look between them, Erza nodded in agreement that she will be the first to take Anzu up on his ‘challenge’ and leaped out of the booth and landed on the arena with a thud.  
“I accept you challenge from one warrior to another” declared Erza as she drew her sword and they began circling each other while waiting for an opening to strike. Anzu eventually was the first to strike with Erza both blocking and countering him with ease before following up with her own string of attacks. With each clash of their swords, sparks danced on the arena before Erza exploited an opening that she saw in Anzu’s defence by kicking him hard in the chest and sending him crashing into the arena wall.

Amir felt the bile in her back of her throat and tears threatening to gush down her face for the first time in however long it had been since she had last cried. Never in all her years, would she imagine that she would ever see the man that she loved so very much and yet, here was Luka standing in front of here plain as day.  
“I take it then from your expression that you weren’t expecting me” said Luka as he fully removed the remains of his mask to show off his messy black hair, stubbly chin and multiple scars in his face that Amir knew he received after they had departed. She could tell from the way his red eyes glistened that Luka was also finding this encounter difficult.  
“How can you be standing there?” questioned Amir after she finally found her voice, although it sounded hoarse from all the raw emotions she was currently feeling, “You were dead, I remember they buried inside the monastery alongside the others. You had no pulse” The tears were flowing freely down Amir’s face now as Luka dared not look at her for reason unbeknownst to her.  
“I am sorry that our reunion had to be on an occasion such as this, but you understand that we both have responsibilities to carry out. Mine to my master and your to the order and ideals that you still uphold after everything they have put you through” said Luka as he raised his sword and prepared to attack Amir, “Despite all that will happen, know that nothing brings me more joy than seeing your beautiful face once more and that you have taken responsibility for making our dream a reality” So with a heavy heart did Luka lunge at Amir with his sword ready to strike, only for Amir to deflect it with her axe.  
“I will ensure that our dream will become a reality” said Amir as she pushed back against Luka and sent him back a few paces, “And I will stop anyone who stands in the way of that, no matter who they are”  
Erza was disappointed by her brief skirmish with Anzu, she thought that with all his boasting that he would be more of a challenge. “Leaving so soon?” said a voice from being Erza, she turned to find Anzu walking out of the rubble of the wall with barely a scratch on him, “Must say that I’m disappointed in your level of skill, could have sworn that you put up a better fight on the Godkiller than in this arena” sighed Anzu as he rolled his shoulders in boredom, while revelling in Erza’s shocked expression. Anzu outstretched his right hand, expelling a beam of dark energy that blasted Erza, who would have crashed into the wall had Azrael not jumped down to grab her.  
“You alright there Erza?” asked Azrael with Erza nodding to indicate she was alright and accepted Azrael’s hand to help her to her feet. Twirling his two cutlasses, Anzu then slammed the two hilts together and the cutlasses were encased in purple flames. Spinning the flaming weapon above his head, the flames started to dispel to reveal a large, familiar looking double-sided spear as the purple flames travelled down Anzu’s arm and began to encase him in purple armour.  
“All this time you were right under our noses” said Azrael as the flames finally died out, revealing to everyone who Anzu truly was; the Ivory Knight.

Watching from the booth, the others were about to jump down to aid Erza and Azrael when they were beaten to it by the Defenders in the stands. However, with a simple wave of his hand, Anzu blew his assailants in various directions. “Seems a little unfair that you would outnumber me. I should rectify this numbering issue” said Anzu as he snapped his fingers. Suddenly, various members of the audience stood in their seats and kept nothing more than a blank expression as, one by one, they suddenly burst into purple and black flames; revealing them to be the strange knights that had been seen around the city in the months prior to the start of the Tournament.  
The knights then started attacking the already panicked audience members, forcing the Defenders to abandon their attempt at containing Anzu and helping the members of the public escape the wrath of these Knights of Ivory.  
An explosion was heard at the top of the arena, most likely coming from the booth that was occupied by the Principles. When the dust cleared, where the booth was located was now a strange black and purple dome encasing it, no doubt to prevent the Principles from helping the others.

The sky was filled with a deep rumbling as a large dreadnaught ship came into view and remained hovering overhead while littering the academy and surrounding city with pods. The Defenders approached the pods with caution, only from them to burst open to reveal inside large robotic humanoids armed with a Gatling gun from a right arm and an energy sword attached to their left. The robots never spoke, save for making deep, monotonic beeps that added to their menacing appearance along with red soulless eyes.

Tarlak and the others had no idea how to handle the seemingly impossible tasks before them; it was becoming rather obvious that Jocasta had been comprised somehow due to the defences not activating, there was the invasion of Orion City that the Defenders would have trouble fending off, Amir was still missing and there was the matter of Azrael and Erza facing off against the same knight that severely wounded Azrael during both his previous encounters.  
Sensing the growing levels of doubt amongst the group in the booths, Aryanna decided to be the level-headed and mentally connect everyone to communicate, “I know this all seems to be stacking against us, but we have to remember that this right here, is what we have been training for. To help those who cannot help themselves, to push back those who would seek to plunge the galaxy into despair and darkness. To provide hope where there is none and ensure that peace is kept throughout” mentally said Aryanna to everyone, glad to see that her small speech was wiping away the fear and doubt on the other’s faces, only to be replaced by stern faces fit for true Defenders. “Thanks for the pep talk Aryanna” said Azrael mentally, “Alright guys you heard the lady, best way to tackle the situations is to split into groups. Blake, Quartz and Amos, you three try to get Jocasta back online while Aryanna, Tarlak, Dayna and Benn try to find Amir. The rest of you help the Defenders in the city with the evac and in pushing these invaders out our city” tasked Azrael to everyone mentally as they nodded in agreement before splitting off into their assigned groups to complete their tasks.

Inside the energy dome sat atop the arena, the group of Principles had their hands full dealing with Talon Noir’s Principle Geist as well as Arachnia, who was responsible for the barrier that now imprisoned them.  
“Anyone else having flashbacks to the good old days?” questioned Faust as the Principles stood in their defensive line, waiting for Geist and Arachnia to make their move, “Have to agree with Faust on that one, has been quite some time since we all had some fun like this” said Ares with a manic grin breaking out across his face that seemed infectious as the others started smiling too. Growing bored with the antics, Geist used some sort of strange black goo to cover his right arm in, which solidified in the form of an axe. Arachnia held her arms out as red stingers shot out from the back of her wrists before the pair of them charged the Principles.  
“Alright then Team Tenrou, time to show these two how the original Defender Team does things” announced Alduin as they all charged Geist and Arachnia, clashing in the middle for what looked to be a very heated battle.

Amir hated to admit it, but she was really regretting taking Luka on by herself. Back in the days of old their skills were mostly even with Amir being the better by a smidge, but right now she was having difficulty in defending herself from Luka let alone going on the offensive. Her axe had been discarded long ago, embedded within a wall somewhere as she now fought Luka was a blade similar in length to his own.  
“Looks like those years without me as dulled your skills” commented Luka as he effortlessly blocked another one of Amir’s attempts at offence, “You know it doesn’t have to be this way, right? Join me, and together we can ensure that peace is achieved throughout the galaxy” Amir had to admit that some part of her was actually considering Luka’s offer in joining him, but she knew that it would go against everything that she believed in and that was something she would never do.  
“I am truly sorry that it had to come to this Amir” sighed Luka as he nodded his head while slowly backing away from Amir. Confused by the gesture and that Luka was backing away, Amir hesitantly turned in the opposite direction of the corridor, only to come face-to-face with Kaaba.  
“Sorry my dear, but we have a schedule to keep to” said Kaaba as he bombarded Amir’s mind with mental attacks, knocking her unconscious but not before she saw Luka step forward to catch her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Final arc of the story has begun! Going to be relatively short compared to the other arcs but will probably be no less dramatic so enjoy!!


	25. Fall of the Academy. Rise of the Cabal

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> As the invasion of Tenrou continues; the gang find themselves in difficult situations as once friends battle for the fate of the Academy, but just who is this master and what is his end game?

The arena crumbled around them as the fight between the Sigma siblings and Anzu raged on, with neither side showing any sign of backing down. Erza originally had doubts on whether Azrael could handle another brawl with the Ivory Knight or not, but she was pleased to find her little brother managing to channel his anger into his attacks rather than fight as blindly as he did on the Godkiller.  
“Have to admit that I am impressed with how far you have come since last we met” commented Anzu to Azrael as they clashed, spear against Muramasa, “Though you still have a ways to go before you’re on the level your brother Magnus was on that night”  
This comment gave Azrael the added rage to win the struggle against Anzu and push him back before regrouping with Erza.  
“He’s stronger than the last time we fought” said Azrael sounding out of breath as Anzu began slowly circling the sibling like a predator waiting for their prey to make the first move. “Let’s try a pincer strike” suggested Erza that Azrael found himself agreeing with as Erza leapt into the air and landed on the other side of Anzu. Both broke into a sprint with weapons drawn for their pincer strike which would have hit home, had their brawl not been interrupted by Dusk suddenly landing in front of Erza, blocking her strike and firing of a red beam from his palm that sent her crashing into the far wall.  
Azrael had no time to react as Anzu blasted him with a massive burst of purple energy into the other arena wall, “You really do take the fun out of everything don’t you?” sighed Anzu to Dusk, who remained quiet as the unmasked Genzo walked onto the field with Kaaba close behind him dragging Amir by the hair along with Tarlak and the others who were sent to find Amir.

Johnson and the others were having very little luck in dealing with the seemingly endless waves of robotic soldier that stormed the Academy’s front gates. During their search for civilians, they had come across Ronin fending off a small attack force by himself from getting to the small group he was protecting. They had managed to help Ronin in defeating the drones but with more on the way, they decided that the Academy was the best place to defend the remaining civilians that had yet to be evacuated.  
“I hope the others are having more luck than we are” panted Najrn as they dispatched with what seemed like the 10th wave of robots in the last hour or so, “Communications are still down so that must mean that Blake’s team haven’t yet gotten to Jocasta” replied Aztek as he removed his shaver from a droid and placing back on the hilt on his back.  
With the next lot of droids marching on their position, the group prepared for another assault however, something was different this time around. Right at the front of the droids were two men, one just smaller than Tarlak while the other was about an average height draped in a black trench coat and carrying a sheathed katana in one hand. “Was wondering when I’d get my rematch with you Nightshade” said Ronin as the two new players halted their attacking force at the Academy gates.  
“Ditching the guns and going back to your classic look brother?” questioned Ronin to Nightshade who simply shrugged his shoulders carelessly while his larger companion remained silent while scanning the group, “What can I say brother, an occasion like this deserves my best” replied Nightshade as he slightly popped his katana which released a black fog that spread in front of him and warped into five shade warriors.   
“Who is this guy?” questioned Rin quietly to Ronin eyed up the competition with silent fury, “Yes Ronin, do tell them who I am to you” taunted Nightshade opening his arms wide, as if daring Ronin to tell them the truth.  
“His name is Lucius Nightshade, he is over 400 years old thanks to the curse-power of his Akuma Blade that imprisons the souls of the slain victims which fuels its power and Lucius’ longevity. He is also my elder brother” revealed Ronin to the others, letting the revelations sink in that they were about to face off against the elder brother of veteran Defender Ronin.

When they were given the task of fixing Jocasta and getting communications back online, Blake imagined that there would be a few hiccups, but never imagined the hiccup would be Hakoom of Talon Noir and his illusions. The illusions currently had the three of them locked in combat while Hakoom locked himself inside the main console room, no doubt to finish whatever he was doing with Jocasta.  
“We really need to get past these things and stop him” said Quartz as he blasted another creature with an energy blast, only for the hole it made to be repaired and him to be knocked back by said creature. Blake was currently fending off three of the creatures with his Polar Shield, the magnetic properties of the shield seemed to interfere with the genetic makeup of the creatures at the pixelated slightly when the shield hit them.  
Extending his shield to give the three some breathing room, Blake decided to share his findings with the others to come up with a plan, “If you can hit all of them with your shield and use that gravity thing you do with it, me and Amos can bombard them with everything we have and hopefully give us an opening to Hakoom” said Quartz to the others, who agreed since it was a sound plan to follow.   
Blake brought his right arm back as far as he could get it, took a deep breath and flung his arm forward with all his might. As his arm shot forward, a purple shield appeared on his arm before shooting off through the barrier and bounced off the creatures bashing the barrier before rolling on the ground in the middle of the room. With the same arm that threw the shield, Blake turned his hand upwards and made a crushing notion with it. The shield on the ground suddenly spun and warped into a purple orb that began sucking in everything that the shield had touched when it as thrown.  
“There’s your window guys, make it count” said Blake as the creatures were pulled into the orb and began pixilating into a gloopy mess. Leaping into the air, Quartz and Amos unleashed a joined barrage of red energy and focused lightning at the pixel soup which burst into a blinding light before imploding, leaving only the purple orb that was once Blake’s Polar Shield which quickly shrunk until nothing remained.   
“Now to deal with the hacktivist bugger and get Jocasta back up and running” said Amos as he cracked his knuckles before charging off towards the main console room with Quartz and Blake in tow. As they arrived at the main console room, the three kept their guard up in case of anymore surprises, “Guys, we may have a problem here” said Blake to the other who came running to his location; only to find the main terminal covered in several explosive charges beeping away.  
Knowing that there wasn’t much time to defuse them all, Amos grabbed Quartz and Blake by the scruff of their necks before flinging them out of the room and slamming the emergency lock. “What the heel are you doing Amos?!” cried Quartz as he banged on the door while Blake tried to override the lock to get them back in, “There’s no time to defuse them all Quartz, but I can minimise the damage and save the two of you” said Amos as he began working on the communications board.  
“Damn it he’s shorted out the circuits, so I can’t unlock the door” cursed Blake as the lock sparked and fizzed, one of Blake’s gauntlets suddenly lit up to show that a transfer between it and an Academy terminal was in progress.   
“I’m transferring the communication protocols to your gauntlet Blake, it should allow you to get them back for a while. There’s also a piece of Jocasta attached, no need for her A.I to completely die is there?” said Amos as he returned to the sealed door from the terminal once the transfer was complete. Quartz was still banging on the door while Blake had managed to get communications back online. “Blake can you do one last thing for me before you get Quartz outta here?” asked Amos with a clear look of termination on his face.

All over the Academy, a sudden buzzing could be heard on the intercoms, halting the fight at the front gates and gaining the attention of those in the arena.   
“Testing, testing, this stupid thing on?” questioned Amos as his voice became more and more clear, “Greetings invading douchebags and assorted lot, this is Overlord Amos coming to you live from the console room. Just wanting to say a few things before you blow this place to High Hrothgar. Number one being that you’re all massive dicks for ruining a treasured day amongst us Defenders, the second being that it was me who stole the last of the milk Aryanna and not Benn, Rin or Johnson so stop giving them stink eye over it and the third and final piece before the fireworks; you may think that by coming to where we live and destroying our home may weaken our resolve or give you an edge in this war, but let me tell you something from experience. That lot to whom I have the utmost privilege to call my friends will stop at nothing to ensure that you all get what’s coming to you, to ensure the Alliance wins the war, to ensure that you all get what’s coming to you” proclaimed Amos who fell silent with only his heavy, emotional berthing coming through the intercom.  
“Ad Victoriam” proclaimed Amos proudly before the Academy suddenly shook from the explosion underneath and began to crumble and the intercom went dead.

Azrael and the others could only look on in silent horror as a pillar of smoke rose from the Academy, even Kaaba was silent in light of Amos’ sacrifice to the Defender cause. The arena was soon filled with the captured Defender left in the city, Blake and Quartz were still unaccounted for, but Talon Noir didn’t seem affected by that as they probably believed they got caught in the destruction of the Academy. The bubble of dark energy that loomed over the Principle booth began to dissipate, revealing the defeated Principles and a looming black wolf-life creature, seemingly made entirely of goo with pulsing red eyes, large bat wings, pointed bones coming out the back of its neck and an axe protruding out its forehead. In his large hands was an unconscious Rassilon which alarmed Azrael and Erza greatly.  
“After years of struggle against the Alliance, victory is finally appearing to be within reach” proclaimed Anzu as he lifted his spar into the air, gaining cheers from the surrounding invaders, “Now, I invite Kaaba to enact the final part of this victory, so the Master may be brought back to this world and Darkness may reign once more” Kaaba made his way through the prisoners towards Anzu, refusing to make eye contact with the gang as he went past them.   
Kaaba began placing his spoons in a large circle before he took his place sitting in the centre, “I will join you soon my friend” muttered Kaaba before outstretching his hand as the spoons along with himself floated into the air and slowly spun in a circle. Kaaba began yelling in apparent pain as he slowly began to disintegrate into the spinning circle of spoons until was left of him.   
Amongst the invaders was a tall man completely shrouded in a dark cloak that took centre stage, directly underneath Kaaba’s still spinning spoon circle. The man lifted his hands up towards the spinning spoons as he unleashed massive amounts of black lightning up into the air, connecting with the circle. The circle began to expel some of the energy before unleashed a large red beam right down onto the cloaked man, forcing everyone to shield their eyes from the blinding light.

Blake and Quartz had made it into the Undercroft hanger and were in the process of dealing with the Droids guarding one of the large ships.  
“Looks like whatever that energy surge was in the arena has ceased, meaning we better hurry” said Blake as they finished dealing with the Droids and boarded the ship. While Quartz tried to get the controls online, Blake found a terminal where he could upload Jocasta’s interface and began working on bringing her online. After much tinkering, Blake managed to get Jocasta online, “Thank you for your assistance Master Johnson, I am also aware of Master Amos’ valiant sacrifice and am truly sorry for your loss” said Jocasta as she began bringing the ship online, “I am detecting multiple hostiles within the arena complex along with a dreadnaught class ship overhead. I recommend that we deploy the stealth protocols to await a window to open” suggested Jocasta which had Blake smiling for the first time today, “Have to admit that it’s good to have you back Jocasta” smiled Blake which Jocasta replied with, “It’s good to be back Defender”  
The light had long dissipated from the beam and the spoons scattered as dust in the wind above them. As the smoke settled, the hood figure appeared in the middle and began to take his shroud off. The revealed face of the mystery person had Azrael, Aryanna, Erza and every Gallifreyan present gasping in horror as total fear appeared on their face.  
“Praise to you, our lord and Master of the Darkness” said Anzu as he and the invaders bowed to this man, “Hail to you great and powerful Forbidden One; hail Master Peylix Omega, the rightful ruler of the galaxy and lord of Gallifrey”

The one Anzu called Peylix wore black chest armour and shoulders with a red flame pattern on them. He also wore black gauntlets with knee high armoured boots over light grey trousers. A tattered black cape along with a black waist cape swished as he walked, the waist cape tied by a red furred rope and a strange looking helmet underarm with a ridiculously large sword being held with the other. One of the scary things about Peylix, was that he looked almost exactly like a younger Rassilon, save for the long black hair and two crossed scars that started on his forehead, past his eyes and ended in the middle of his cheeks. His eyes bore the same blackness as Azrael’s and Rassilon’s except, rather than a grey iris, Peylix had blood red iris’ instead.   
Breathing in deeply then sighing, Peylix seemed to reveal in the smell of fresh air he smirked sinisterly, “Oh I have missed this feeling of freedom” said Peylix, sending chills down the Gallifreyan’s respective necks. After he was done taking in the nostalgia of his newfound freedom, Peylix turned and began walking towards the still unconscious Rassilon who was still being held by Geist.  
Taking a minute to savour the moment, Peylix then struck Rassilon across the face with the back of his hand, stirring the other Gallifreyans at the attack on the Lord President. “Peylix? How the hell did you get out?” questioned Rassilon, shocked to see the Forbidden One looming over him with a smile etched onto his face.  
“Really Rassilon? After a millennia of not seeing your elder brother, that’s your way f welcoming me home?” asked Peylix in mock offense, “My brother died millennia ago during the final attack of the Phantasm Horde” spat Rassilon as he glared at Peylix with his aged grey eyes.  
“Oh, very well then, I’ll tell you how I’m free” sighed Peylix as he moved away from Rassilon, ignoring his attempt to rile him, “As you know, Alakrians have the lovely ability of ‘seeing’ into other dimensions. What you don’t know is that they can use their psionic abilities to open a tear into the dimension they have pictures in their mind’s eye. Kills them trying to do it of course, making it forbidden, but that’s irrelevant right now. Long story short, Kaaba used his kind’s forbidden technique to open a tear into the dimension you trapped my soul and Titan in, and now we’re free to finish the job” explained Peylix with twisted glee.

The moment was suddenly interrupted by the sudden explosions coming from the looming dreadnaught above them. Just then a ship de-cloaked above them and began firing at the clusters of Droids with Blake and Quartz jumping off the gangplank to begin freeing everyone.  
“Let’s get you guys free and kick some ass for Amos” said Quartz as he freed Tarlak and the others while Blake worked on getting Azrael and Erza free. Blake was about to be struck down by a Droid when it suddenly shut down for a moment before turning on the other Droids and gunning them down. Surprised by the sudden change, all became clear when the Droid turned to reveal blue eyes and a familiar voice.  
“Can’t let you Defenders have all the fun” said Jocasta as she thrust a blade into another Droid’s gut. Nodding in agreement; Azrael, Erza, Blake and the newly armed Jocasta charged into the skirmish to led aid in getting people aboard the ship.

“And here I thought my return wouldn’t have a small blood bath” smiled Peylix as he put on his helmet and drew the large sword, cutting down Defenders and civilians alike with almost sadistic glee in his laughs. Anzu was about to run though a downed Defender when his blade clashed with another, looking up to his assailant Anzu was shocked to find that he was now crossing blades with the last person he wanted to see right now; Aryanna.  
“Get out of my way Aryanna” said Anzu as he tried to end the stalemate with no avail, “I’m not going to let you kill anymore people Anzu. Has nothing from the past few months taught you anything about me?” questioned Aryanna, glaring down her ‘friend’. There it was again, that strange feeling inside his chest that made him feel weak.   
“What have you done to me?” demanded Anzu as he pushed Aryanna back with more force than before, “Why does my chest feel tight suddenly? I demand you tell me what you have done to me!” Aryanna was shocked by the outburst but managed to reign in her temper, “That feeling that you’re having is your heart genius. It’s telling you that what you’re doing is wrong” answered Aryanna which confused Anzu even more.  
“Kronans have no such weakness as feelings. We only have refined instincts that allow us to survive our ravaged home world, we have no time for weaknesses like ‘feelings’” said Anzu as he gripped his head and began shaking it hard. Taking this moment of confusion, Aryanna wrapped Anzu up in vines made of Titanforce before aiding the downed Defender to safety, leaving Anzu completely alone.

“I don’t know what should shock me more” said Amir as she blocked another attack, “The fact that your alive after all this time, or the fact that you chose to join the Legions of the Darkness” all Luka could do was snort at the conflict happening within Amir’s head at the moment, it really was good to see her again.  
“Things are more complicated than that Moonlight” replied Luka, having to block an extra powerful strike from Amir, “One, you know to call me that; and two, how complicated can it be?” pushed Amir but Luka remained silent as they continued their fight from earlier. Amir seemed to be gaining the upper hand, when suddenly Luka slipped past her guard and lodged his dagger into her side.  
“I’m truly sorry that this had to happen Moonlight, I hope that you will find it in yourself to forgive me” whispered Luka into Amir’s ear before taking the dagger, and what appeared to be white ooze, out of Amir as he removed Amir’s symbiote, sending her into shock. Luka’s actions however didn’t go unnoticed, as Rin and Erza charged in with Rin attempting to fend Luka off while Erza got Amir to the ship.

“Everyone fall back, we can’t win this” called Ronin from the ship, Azrael heard Ronin and truth be told he was right. Fires were everywhere, along with bodies of Defenders and civilians alike, littering the once safe grounds of the Tenrou Academy. The building itself was now a pile of smoking rubble with Amos’ body at the bottom of it, all seemed hopeless for them right now. Agreeing that the fight was lost, Azrael aided as many Defenders and civilians that he could back to the ship while protecting them from oncoming fire form the Droids.  
“Leaving so soon nephew?” questioned Peylix suddenly, freezing Azrael in his tracks, “Must admit that this reunion is not what I had planned for us, but when opportunity knocks guess you have to answer regardless” Azrael slowly turned to face the source of the voice, only to have both his hearts stop and the colour drain from his face completely.   
Right in the centre of the arena was Peylix was a battered and bloodied Benn kneeling in front of him, both his wings appeared broken but that wasn’t what made Azrael’s blood run cold; it was the large blade pressed against his boyfriend’s neck.  
“You dare hurt him and I swear that I will personally make you wish you were back in that dimension that you crawled out of” threatened Azrael with cold, emotional rage lacing his voice. Peylix grabbed a fistful of Benn’s hair, forcing him to raise his head to face Azrael who looked about ready to rip someone’s limbs off like a piñata.  
“Hey, Benn look at my” pleaded Azrael as Benn tried to stay conscious, “Everything is going to be aright you hear me? I’m going to save you and we’ll get you patched up no sweat” Peylix said nothing as he lightly pressed the blade onto Benn’s neck, drawing some blood and a cry from Azrael.  
“Don’t cry Little Salamander, you made me a better person by loving me so much and the time we spent here at the Academy is my fondest memories” smiled Benn before saying something to Azrael mentally, “I only have one request for you, please look out and protect Evan for me? Jean knows who I’m talking about and she’ll take you to him, but promise me here and now that you’ll look after him” Azrael was shocked by the request by nodded his head in agreement regardless. Pleased by the agreement, Benn closed his eyes and with a smile on his face, pushed forward onto the blade, cutting his own throat.

Azrael fell to his knees and began screaming himself horse as Peylix let the body of Benn drop to the floor, blood pooling from the neck wound as Peylix sheathed his blade and raise his hand to signal the ceasefire. “I will allow you to leave with you lives and to bury your dead” said Peylix as he backed away from Benn in silence.  
“Although it won’t be today or tomorrow” said Azrael suddenly, making Peylix stop in his track and turn to face his fallen nephew, “I vow on the lives of your victims that we will avenge their deaths and end you” Although Peylix had been threatened many time in his life, he honestly felt that Azrael meant his, wither it was the dead serious look in his tear-drained eyes or the scarily calm tone he used to say it Peylix didn’t know, but one thing was for sure; Azrael Sigma may be the one to finally end him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And with that comes an end to this story! Hope you all enjoyed this first intallment of the Inquisition Series, more will be on the way in the coming months so stay tuned :3


	26. Epilogue

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Academy has fallen. Tenrou has been lost to the enemy and all seems hopeless for the gang. What could be their next step in fighting the newly risen Peylix and his army of darkness?

True to his word; Peylix allowed the Defenders to escape from Tenrou without pursuit and they were now drifting through space, the ship itself was heavy with silence as people were mourning for those that were lost in senseless battle. Azrael was being comforted by Erza and the others for the loss of Benn while Aryanna seemed lost in thought while staring off into deep space and Blake was busy tinkering with Jocasta and helping steer the ship.  
“We’ve lost everything; the Academy is dust, Amos sacrificed himself for what seems like nothing, Benn was murdered to rile Azrael and Amir is currently being taken to Asgard as we don’t have the means to keep her stable right now” listed Johnson to the others after a couple minutes of silence, “What the hell are we meant to do after all that?” was his question to the group which remained silent while pondering an answer.  
“I’ll tell you exactly what we’re going to do next” said Azrael as he moved out of Erza’s grip and stood in front of the group to address them, “We carry on the fight. We don’t let Amos or Benn’s sacrifice to mean that the bad guys have won, yeah they may have blown our Academy up and may have driven us from Tenrou, that doesn’t change one simple fact though; we are Defenders” while Azrael was speaking, various heads in the group began to nod as they realised what Azrael was saying was right, “We are Defenders, and it is our duty to ensure that the Alliance survives but above all else, we are charged with protecting those against the very people that drove us away”  
Suddenly from behind Azrael, clapping could be heard which made everyone turn to face the source; only to find Paarthurnax and Rassilon standing with pride written right across their faces.  
“Spoken like a true Defender” said Paarthurnax as he walked over to place a hand on Azrael’s shoulder, “It is true that today we faced a heavy loss, but as young Azrael has just said; although we may have lost great people on this day, they did not die for nothing; they died so that we may live to fight another day” said Rassilon as he smiled at his grandchildren before turning to face Paarthurnax and nodded in agreement to a silent conversation they seemed to be having.  
“As per custom amongst our Academies; we Principles have always disguised the Tournament as a means of testing those we think may be ready to become Defenders” revealed Paarthurnax to the group, pausing to let that bit of information sink into their brains before continuing, “Although the circumstances are less favourable to say the least, I’d like to be the first to congratulate all of you in graduating Tenrou Academy. Each one of you have proven time and again, that you all have what it takes to be incredible Defenders. Remember your training and make us all proud Defenders” 

Peylix continued to stare out into deep space and bask in the starlight in total silence, his thoughts did wonder towards his nephew and his band of misfit friends. He wondered what emotions they were currently feeling, rage and sadness being the most likely, but he couldn’t help but wonder. A knocking on his door broke Peylix from his musing as Anzu walking into his chambers and bowed before him.  
“Forgive the intrusion master, but the council has arrival as per your request” said Anzu from his bowing position. Taking one last look at the deep void of space before him, Peylix turned and was escorted out the room by Anzu towards the meeting room. Even before he entered the room, Peylix could hear the rabble and squander coming from the people on the other side of the door, bringing a small smile to his face before he pushed the doors open wide to announce his arrival and effectively silenced the room completely. “Please by all mean continue your squabble” said Peylix as he strode towards his seat, daring anyone in the room to meet his gaze as he did so before taking his place on the far end of the table, “It occurs to me that, through all the bickering and lusting over power, only a few of you actually bothered to see to my return” the entire table was deathly silent as Anzu, Arachnia, Luka, Dusk and Nightshade stepped out from behind Peylix with hands on their weapons.  
“Can any of you traitorous cowards explain to me now why I shouldn’t kill you?” questioned Peylix, inviting the other council members to plead for their lives. While many of them begged for Peylix’s forgiveness, a few remained silent with acceptance of their fate. Raising his hand for silence, Peylix turned to Anzu and nodded as an indication to proceed with the execution. Anzu and the others moved from their spot behind Peylix and began slaughtering the ones that had begged for forgiveness.  
“With that minor matter resolved, we can proceed with why you were all summoned here” announced Peylix as he began telling the remaining Cabal member his plan for the Alliance.

Night had fallen on the now ruined Orion City, the fires had long since died out and bodies still littered the streets as building continued to crumble as if the city was alive and suffering from the recent invasion. The vacant arena appeared almost beautiful in the natural moonlight, had it not been for the corpses and dried blood that stained the once great arena that saw countless Defenders rise and fall over the years. Dust from the debris was disturbed by the sudden gust of wind that seemed to only pickup as spark of lightning struck the centre of the arena, before a particularly large bolt struck the ground, cracking it to reveal a mysterious figure kneeling in the centre.  
As this figure rose, the light of the moon revealed them to be draped in white clothing, their right arm completely covered in a massive white sleeve wrapped by various belts and a few talismans stitched into the fabric. Their left was completely black however, steel gauntlet attached to the forearm and a red bandana tightly wrapped round the left bicep. Over their black waistcoat was a long white cloak that also had several talismans stitched into the hem of the cloak while their face was completely obscured by the black ski mask covering the bottom half of their face and a purple bandana hap-haphazardly wrapped atop their head with blond tuffs of hair sticking out.  
The figure scanned the area with their left eye, the other being hidden by the blond hair covering it, before suddenly disparaging into the wind without a trace.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know I said that the last chapter was the last, but ideas were steaming and needed something to tie stuff up while opening next installment better. Now question is who was that person at the end and what will the next steps be for both the Defenders and the Darkness? Have to wait and see in the second installment of the Inquisition Series :3


End file.
